Sunil Ganguly

Sunil Ganguly (died June 14, 1999) was an Indian musician who played the Hawaiian electric guitar. He made a number of records of Indian film music on the HMV label, Sagarika Acoustronics and Concorde Records.^[1]

Sunil Ganguly was born at Sonamura village in Tripura on 1 January, 1940^[2]. He re-created a number of popular hit Bollywood songs, from the films of 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s, on guitar^[3]. He trained under the great Pt. Gyan Prakash Ghosh, also the guru of the renowned vocalist Pt. Ajay Chakrabarty. Ganguly, therefore, had a profound knowledge of North Indian Classical music and had a unique gayaki style with which he played the guitar. He has a number of compositions and dhuns based on various ragas. Some of his remarkable records include 'Ghazal chedi usne', an album of instrumentals of ghazals by prominent singers such as Mehdi Hassan and Jagjit Singh. His recording career spanned more than 40 yrs from 1957, when he cut his first album from HMV. He died in Kolkata on June 14, 1999, after a short illness. He was active in giving music classes at his residence, and in doing recordings, till the last week before his demise.

Discography

His HMV records include:

• Electric Guitar (1975) S/MOCE 3006
• Electric Guitar Hindi Film Tunes (1979) S/MOCE 3015
• The Classic Touch (Electric Guitar) (1980) S/MOCE 3016
• Swinging Hits (1980) S/MOCE 3018

Cassettes from HMV (RPG Enterprises):

• Ibteda Ever melodious compositions of Jagjit Singh on Electric Hawaaian Guitar (1993) SPHOS 23211
• The Golden Collection - All Time Greats - Sunil Ganguly Vols 1 and 2 (1994) STHV 842607 and 842608
• Khelicho e biswha loye - Songs of Nazrul on Electric Guitar (1991) SPHOS 23129
• Tumi Rabe Nirobe - Tunes of Tagore songs on Electric Guitar (1981) SPHOS 842697
• Surer akashe tumi je go suktara (Tribute to Hemanta Mukhopadhyay) (1991) SPHOS 23137
• Surer Jharna - Bengali instrumentals on Electric Guitar (1992) SPHOS 23156

Cassettes from Sagarika Acoustronics:

• Ei sundar swarnali sandhyay - Bengali film songs on Guitar (1996) 31071
• Bhara thak smriti sudhai - Tagore songs on electric Guitar (1996) 31072

Cassettes from Concord Records:

• RENAISSANCE - Sunil Ganguly plays melodies of Kazi Nazrul Islam on Electric Guitar (1984) CB 02 03
• FIREWORKS - Instrumental Film Hits (1986) 04004

CDs from HMV (RPG Music - www.saregama.com) include

• Nostalgia Melodies to caress your Heart 'N' Soul (2001) - CDF 130310
• Nostalgia Melodies to caress your Heart 'N' Soul Ghazal Chhedi Usne, Great Ghazals on Guitar(2001) - CDF 130311

CDs from Sagarika Acoustronics / Concord Records / Music India Ltd

• Golden Greats of Yesteryears (1996) - C600015
• Yaadein (A tribute to Mohd. Rafi and Kishore Kumar) (1993) - MILS 012

Notes

1. ^ The Gramophone Company of India (HMV) Records Listing
2. ^ "Guitarist Ganguli dead". The Tribune. 1999-06-14. http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99jun14/nation.htm. Retrieved 2007-04-01. 
3. ^ "When Melody Was Queen: Film Instrumentals Archive". Sangeet Mahal: The music greats. http://www.sangeetmahal.com/music/music_film_music_archives.asp. Retrieved 2007-04-01.