Jnan Prakash Ghosh

• Name — Jnan Prakash Ghosh • Birth Name — Jnan Prakash Ghosh • Born — 8 May 1909 • Origin — Kolkata, India • Died — 18 February 1997 • Occupation — Tabla player, musicologist • Instrument — Vocals, Tabla, Harmonium • Genre — Hindustani Classical Music

Born in a Hindu family with musical background in Kolkata, he was the grandson of Dwarkanath Ghosh (1847–1928), who founded Dwarkin in 1875 and invented the "Dwarkin harmonium", popular in West Bengal, India. He graduated from the Scottish Church College of the University of Calcutta He was keen in sports (he played soccer, hockey, polo and billiards). He also practised 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 Masit Khan of the Farukhabad gharana and became his senior disciple. After realizing that is so much more tabla, he started his tutelage under Ustad Feroz Khan of Punjab Gharana. It is here where the Punjabi Gharana compositions were introduced to Kolkata folks.

He was the founder of Sourav Academy of Music and closely associated with the 'Sangeet Research Academy'. He scored music for many Bengali films, of which Jadubhatta, Andhare Alo and Rajlakshmi o Srikanta (1958) are worth mentioning. He has composed and directed music to a number of popular gramophone records sung by various artistes. A percussion entitled The Drums of India He also provided music for the Academy Award nominated animated short Bead Game, directed by Ishu Patel for the National Film Board of Canada. His residence at 25 Dixon Lane in Bowbazar, Kolkata, was frequented by musicians, be it local or those visiting the city, and thus was the venue of several recitals, most notably a Raga Chhayanat performed by Bade Ghulam Ali Khan in 1954. Amongst his students are tabla players Kanai Dutta, Shyamal Bose, Shankar Ghosh, Anindo Chatterjee, and Nikhil Ghosh, Rajkumar Misra, singers Prasun Banerjee, Ajoy Chakrabarty, Suman Ghosh and Arun Bhaduri, and instrumentalist Paul Grant. His birth centenary was celebrated on 7 May 2012, in Kolkata, with screening of documentary of him and performances by various singers.