| Jnan Prakash Ghosh | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Jnan Prakash Ghosh |
| Born | 1912 |
| Origin | Kolkata, India |
| Died | 1997 (aged 84–85) |
| Genres | Hindustani Classical Music |
| Occupations | Music Teacher |
| Instruments | Vocals, Tabla, Harmonium |
| Years active | 1912–1997 |
Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh (1912 – February 18, 1997) was an Indian tabla player and musicologist.
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Born in a Hindu Kayasth family with musical background in Kolkata, India he was the grandson of Dwarik Ghosh, inventor of the Dwarkin harmonium, popular in West Bengal, India. He was first class first on graduation from Calcutta University in the Pali language. He was keen in sports (he played Soccer, Hockey, Polo and Billiards) and painting, but had to discontinue these due to an eye injury in a Soccer match. Then he turned to music. He was trained in vocals by Girija Shankar, Mohammed Sagir Khan and Mohammed Dabir Khan. He took tabla lessons from Ustad Masit Khan of the Farukkabad Gharana and Ustad Feroze Khan of the Punjab Gharana.
He worked for 15 years in All India Radio as a producer of music. He wrote pieces in classical music, light music, modern, orchestral, choral, and percussion styles. He took part in valuable discussions, talks and interviews in Hindi, Bengali and English. He also began the “Ramayangeeti” a fusion of traditional and modern Indian music.
Pandit Ghosh was the founder of Sourav Academy of Music and closely associated with the 'Sangeet Research Academy'. He scored music for many Bengali films, Jadubhatta and Rajlakshmi o Srikanta [1] are worth mentioning. He has composed and directed music to a number of popular gramophone records sung by various artistes.[2] A percussion entitled The Drums of India[3][4] and a jugalbandi with Pandit V.G. Jog on the harmonium and violin respectively have earned him wide popularity. One of his outstanding compositions was called Chaturang - involving tabla, pakhawaj, kathak and tarana. He would instruct disciples staying with him to practice late into the evenings and it is said that he would correct any errors that reached his ears.
He also provided music for the Academy Award nominated animated short Bead Game, directed by Ishu Patel for the National Film Board of Canada.[5]
Padma Bhushan in 1984[6]