Pannalal Ghosh

Late Pt. Pannalal Ghosh was a great Indian music composer and flutist born on 24 July 1911 in Barisal, Bengal Presidency. His birth name was Amaljyoti Ghosh, and Pannalal was his pet name. He was born into a musician family, Har Kumar Ghosh – Grandfather, Akshay Kumar Ghosh – Father, Bhavaranjan – Maternal Uncle, and Sukumari – Mother. Akshay Kumar Ghosh, his father, was a great sitarist and gave him his initial music training. In his early life, Pannalal was also active in the freedom struggle. He shifted to Kolkata in the 1920s and later Mumbai in 1940 for a better musical career. Ghosh's younger brother, Nikhil Ghosh, was also a great Tabla player and a Padma Bhushan Awardee. He got married at the early age of thirteen to nine-year-old Parul Ghosh in 1924. She was also a talented singer and became a famous playback singer.

They had a daughter Shanti-Sudha who was married to a flute player, Devendra Murdeshwar. Pannalal was a devotee of Swami Ramkrishna Paramhansa and got Deekshit from Swami Birajnanda. Pannalal's first guru was Ustad Khushi Mohammed Khan, a renowned master in classical music and a harmonium player. Under him, Pannalal continued two years of training in the early 1930s. After his death, Pannalal got the guidance of Pt. Girija Shankar Chakraborty, a prominent musicologist. Later, he got influenced by the legendary Ustad Allaudin Khan Sahib. Pannalal Ghosh was the first Indian to innovate a novel 32 inches long bamboo flute with seven holes. This flute was suitable for playing classical music. Pannalal was a great innovator and mastered the technique of presenting heavy melodies.

He played several Siddha ragas gracefully, such as Abhogi, Bahar, Basant, Bhairavi, Bhoop, Bhopal Todi, Darbari, Jaunpuri, Lalit, Pahadi, Sarang, Shankara, Tilang, Yaman, and many more. He also created several new and mixed Ragas like Andolika, Hansa-Narayani, Deepawali, Malay-Marutham, Shivendra Madhyam, Shuklapalaasi, etc. Pannalal Ghosh was one of the first classical musicians to travel to foreign countries for performances. He performed in Europe in the late 1930s as the music director of the Seraikela state dance troupe. In 1956, he joined All India Radio Delhi as the conductor of the national orchestra. Kalinga Vijay, Rituraj, Jyotirmoy Amitabha, and Hariyali are the best orchestral masterpieces by Pt. Pannalal. He also contributed to music for Indian movies. Some of his famous movies as a musician are Mughal-e-Azam, Nandkishore, Andolan, Basant, Duhai, etc. Pannalal Ghosh died at the young age of 48 on 20 April 1960 in Delhi.