Samta Prasad (Hindi : पण्डित सामता प्रसाद; 20 July 1921 – 31 May 1994) was an Indian classical musician and

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

player from the

Benares gharana Benares gharānā (Hindi: बनारस घराना) is one of the six most common styles of playing of the Indian tabla. History The Benares tabla gharana was developed a little over 200 years ago by Pandit Ram Sahai (1780–1826). At ...

. He played tabla in many Hindi films including, ''Meri Surat Teri Ankhen'' (1963) and ''

Sholay ''Sholay'' (, ) is a 1975 Indian Hindi-language action-adventure film directed by Ramesh Sippy, produced by his father G. P. Sippy, and written by Salim–Javed. The film is about two criminals, Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) ...

'' (1975), and film music composers

Rahul Dev Burman Rahul Dev Burman (27 June 1939 – 4 January 1994) was an Indian music director who is considered one of the most influential composers of India. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Burman composed musical scores for 331 films. Burman did major work w ...

and

Bappi Lahiri Bappi Aparesh Lahiri (born Alokesh Aparesh Lahiri; 27 November 1952 – 15 February 2022), also known as Bappi Da was an Indian singer, composer and record producer. He popularised the use of synthesised disco music in Indian music industry and ...

were his disciples. He was the son of Hari Sundarrr, also known as Bachaa Mishra, his grandfather was Jagannath Mishra, and his ancestors included Pratap Maharaj, also known as Gudai Maharaj. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1979, given by the

Sangeet Natak Akademi Sangeet Natak Akademi (The National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama in English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India. History It was set up by the Indian education ministry on 31 May 1952 and ...

, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama and the

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 ...

, the third highest civilian honour given by

Govt. of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

in 1991.

Early life and training

Pandit Samta Prasad was born on 20 July 1921, in Kabir chaura, Banaras (

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

into a family steeped in the tradition of

and

pakhawaj The pakhavaj is a barrel-shaped, two-headed drum, originating from the Indian subcontinent, the oldest version of double sided drums and its descendants are mridangam of Southern India and kendang of Maritime Southeast Asia and other South As ...

Benaras gharana Benares gharānā (Hindi: बनारस घराना) is one of the six most common styles of playing of the Indian tabla. History The Benares tabla gharana was developed a little over 200 years ago by Pandit Ram Sahai (1780–1826). At ...

, sometimes referred as ''Poorab baaj'' school. His preliminary ''taalim'' (training) began with his father, who died when Samta Prasad Ji was just seven. Thereafter, he took the discipleship of Bikku Maharaj, himself a disciple of Baldev Sahai, and began to practice for long hours daily.Pandit Samta Prasad Biography

Career

Pt. Samta Prasad gave his first major performance at the " Allahabad Sangeet Sammelan" in 1942, where he impressed the musicians present there, and soon established himself as an accompanist as well as a soloist. Throughout his career, he performed in various parts of India, such as

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

. He also represented the Indian cultural team while abroad, in such places as France, Russia and

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. He also played the

Hindi films Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

like, ''

Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje ''Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje'' () is a 1955 Indian Hindi-language dance film directed by V. Shantaram. It stars Shantaram's wife Sandhya and dancer Gopi Krishna in lead roles. One of the earlier Technicolor films made in India, the film won th ...

'', '' Meri Surat Teri Ankhen'', '' Basant Bahar'', ''Asamapta'' and ''

''. It is believed that music director,

S.D. Burman Sachin Dev Burman (1 October 1906 – 31 October 1975) was an Indian music director and singer. A member of the Tripura royal family, he started his career with Bengali films in 1937. He later began composing for Hindi movies and became one o ...

postponed the recording of the song, ''"Nache mora manwa magan tikta dhighi dhighi"'' being sung by

Mohd. Rafi Mohammed Rafi (24 December 1924 – 31 July 1980) was an Indian playback singer and musician. He is considered to have been one of the greatest and most influential singers of the Indian subcontinent. Rafi was notable for his versatility and ...

in the film ''Meri Surat Teri Aakhen'' until the arrival of Pandit Samta Prasad from Banaras. He died in May 1994 in

Pune, India Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

. He was on a visit to Pune to conduct a coaching workshop organized by Naad Roop. The workshop was a success, but Panditji's unexpected demise left a permanent scar on the minds of those who attended the workshop.

Awards and recognitions

He was awarded "

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

" in the year 1972, and received the " Sangeet Natak Akademi Award" in 1979 and the President Scholarship in 1987. He achieved the

in 1991.

Disciples

Amongst his noted disciples are Pandit Bhola Prasad Singh, Patna, Pandit Shashanka Shekhar Bakshi, Nitin Chatterjee, Naba Kumar Panda, Rahul Dev Burman (R.D.Burman, Gurmit Singh Virdee, Partha Sarathi Mukherjee, Satyanarayan Bashisht, (Late) Pandit Chandrakant Kamat, Pt. Manikrao Popatkar and Pt. Samta Prasad's son - (Late) Pandit Kumar Lal Mishra who died recently, a noted tabla player himself. Famous composer Bappi Lahiri was his disciple too.

References

12. ^ Life history of th
Pandit Gudai Maharaj

External links

Shanta Prasad Profile
at

Last.fm Last.fm is a music website founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. Using a music recommender system called "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user's musical taste by recording details of the tracks the user listens to, e ...

Benares Tabla Gharana
;Video links * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prasad, Shanta 1921 births 1994 deaths 20th-century Indian male classical singers Hindustani instrumentalists Indian percussionists Tabla players Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in arts Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Musicians from Varanasi 20th-century drummers