Pandit Pannalal Ghosh ( bn, পান্নালাল ঘোষ; 24 July 1911 – 20 April 1960), also known as Amal Jyoti Ghosh, was an Indian flute ( bansuri) player and composer. He was a disciple of Allauddin Khan, and is credited with popularizing the flute as a concert instrument in
Hindustani classical music
Hindustani classical music is the classical music of northern regions of the Indian subcontinent. It may also be called North Indian classical music or, in Hindustani, ''shastriya sangeet'' (). It is played in instruments like the violin, si ...
and also the "Pioneer of Indian Classical Flute".
Early life
Pannalal Ghosh was born on 24 July 1911 in
Barisal
Barisal ( or ; bn, বরিশাল, ), officially known as Barishal, is a major city that lies on the banks of the Kirtankhola river in south-central Bangladesh. It is the largest city and the administrative headquarter of both Barisal Di ...
, Bengal Presidency, British India. He was named Amal Jyoti Ghosh with Pannalal having been his nickname. His father, Akshay Kumar Ghosh, was a
sitarist
The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...
. Ghosh received his initial training in music from his father, learning to play the
sitar
The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form ...
. Two apocryphal incidents in his childhood are believed to have influenced Ghosh in taking up the flute. As a child he had picked up a small flute that cowherds usually played, and on the basis of the education he was receiving on the sitar from his father, he would try to play musical patterns on the flute. The family’s ancestral house was on the banks of the
Kirtankhola
Kirtankhola ( bn, কীর্তনখোলা) is a river that starts at Sayeshtabad, in the district of Barisal, Bangladesh, and ends in Gajalia, near the Gabkhan canal. The total length of the river is about . At the age of nine, while swimming in the river one day, Ghosh found a long bamboo stick that was half-flute and half walking stick. The flute part of the stick was longer than a traditional flute and Ghosh started practising on it. Then at the age of eleven, Ghosh is said to have met a holy man who held a conch and a flute and asked if he could play the flute. When Ghosh obliged, the man blessed him and said that music would be his salvation.
He was married to Parul Ghosh (née Biswas) in 1924 when she was only nine and he was thirteen years old. She was the younger sister of Ghosh’s friend Anil Biswas who went on to become a celebrated music composer. Parul was a talented singer herself and later became a well-known playback singer. In 1928, Ghosh became a part of the
Indian Independence Movement
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...
. He joined a gymnasium and learnt martial arts, boxing and stick fighting. As he became more involved in the independence movement, the government started keeping a close watch. Consequently, he shifted to
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
at the age of seventeen in search of a livelihood. At the age of eighteen, he started focusing his attention on the flute. Ghosh realised that a bigger flute's pitch and sonority would be more appropriate for both classical and light music. Ghosh experimented with various materials including metal and different types of wood, and decided on using bamboo. He finally settled on a flute which was thirty two inches long.
Panna Lal Ghosh's daughter Shanti-Sudha was married to the flute player
Devendra Murdeshwar
Devendra Murdeshwar (19 September 1923 – 29 January 2000) was an Indian bansuri flutist.
Early life
Murdeshwar was born in 1923 in a Brahmin family in Masur in the Mysore State in Karnataka. His father played the violin, tabla and the bansuri ...
, who was her father's disciple. Their son Anand Murdeshwar, Panna Lal's grandson, also made a name as flute player but died at a very young age. Ghosh's younger brother,
Nikhil Ghosh
Pandit Nikhil Jyoti Ghosh (28 December 1918 – 3 March 1995) was an Indian musician, teacher and writer, known his proficiency on the percussion instrument of tabla. He founded ''Sangit Mahabharati'', an institution of music in 1956, and perform ...
, was a noted Tabla player and
Padma Bhushan
The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...
awardee.
Career
Having assisted in music production while he was in Calcutta working with
New Theatres Ltd
New Theatres is an Indian film studio. It was formed in Calcutta by producer B. N. Sircar (Birendranath Sircar, the recipient of Dadasaheb Phalke Award of 1970). It was formed on 10 February 1931. Motto of this company was– ''Jivatang Jyotir ...
. In 1940 he came to Bombay to further expand his music career. ''
Sneh Bandhan
''Sneh Bandhan'' (The Bonds Of Love) also called Intezar, is a social melodrama Bollywood film. It was released in 1940. The film was a maiden production from producer Kikubhai Desai's new banner; Great India Pictures. Previously known to produc ...
'' (1940) was his debut film as an independent music composer. The popular songs from the film were "Aabroo Ke Kamaanon Mein" and "Sneh Bandhan Mein Bandhe Hue" sung by Khan Mastan and Bibbo. Pannalal Ghosh jointly scored the background for “ Aandhiyan” in 1952 along with
Ustad Ali Akbar Khan
Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 192218 June 2009) was a Indian Hindustani classical musician of the Maihar gharana, known for his virtuosity in playing the sarod. Trained as a classical musician and instrumentalist by his father, Allauddin Khan, he a ...
and
Pandit Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North Ind ...
. He was the first to introduce the seven-hole flute.
Innovations
Pannalal Ghosh incorporated what is known as the Teevra-Madhyam Hole which is also known as the Dhruva-Madhyam hole, placed off the centre-line of fingering holes, at the bottom of the flute. Veteran flautist Nityanand Haldipur who is his direct disciple explains that this hole was designed specifically to play the Teevra-Madhyam (‘Ma’ or 4th note) of the lower octave especially in Raagas such as Puriya,
Darbari
Darbari Kanada, or simply Raga Darbari, (pronounced darbāri kānada), is a raga in the Kanada family, which is thought to have originated in Carnatic music and brought into Hindustani classical music by Miyan Tansen, the legendary 16th-c ...
and Bihag where a Madhyam to Pancham meend (glide) is required. It can even give the kharaj ka gandhar (3rd note ‘Ga’ of the lower octave) too. The hold too was changed by the late legend to enable the little finger to reach this hole. For Raagas such as Darbari where the lower octave (Mandra Saptak) is explored in detail, Pannalal Ghosh invented another bass flute with just 4 holes which was almost 40-42 inches long. This additional hole makes the Indian flute playable almost exactly like the Western
recorder
Recorder or The Recorder may refer to:
Newspapers
* ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper
* ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US
* ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...
, which only has another additional rear hole, placed above towards the mouthpiece, that remains closely held by the left thumb. The long bamboo flutes he devised are popularly played by subsequent flautists to render Hindusthani classical music.
Notable students
*
Devendra Murdeshwar
Devendra Murdeshwar (19 September 1923 – 29 January 2000) was an Indian bansuri flutist.
Early life
Murdeshwar was born in 1923 in a Brahmin family in Masur in the Mysore State in Karnataka. His father played the violin, tabla and the bansuri ...