Contents ...... Pg. No. About the Author ...... iv Preface ...... v Foreword - Mr. Deepak Raja ...... vii Blessings • Smt. Lata Mangeshkar • Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia ...... ix • Pt. Kartick Kumar • Shri. Shripad Naik • Shri. Sharad Maholay & Smt. Jyotsna Maholay Acknowledgements ...... xiv

CHAPTERS

1. Life sketch ...... 1

1.1 The days ...... 2 1.1.1 Birth date, name and family details ...... 2 1.1.2 Beginning with playing ...... 4 1.1.3 His friends at Barisal ...... 6 1.2 Involvement in the Indian freedom struggle ...... 6 1.3 (formerly Calcutta) days ...... 7 1.4 Europe tour in 1938 and association with ‘dance’...... 13 1.5 Decision to migrate to Mumbai (formerly Bombay) ...... 14 1.6 Mumbai days ...... 15 1.6.1 Residences at Mumbai ...... 15 1.6.2 Family life ...... 16 1.6.3 His routines at Mumbai, and other relevant anecdotes ...... 17 1.6.4 Activities in ‘motion picture’ music ...... 19 1.6.5 His activities in classical music ...... 20 1.7 Delhi years ...... 21 1.8 Health issues and demise ...... 25 1.9 Post-demise happenings ...... 26 Photographs and Documents ...... 29-68

2. The rare soul ...... 69

2.1 Prelude ...... 69 2.2 Personality ...... 70 2.2.1 Physique ...... 70 2.2.2 Soft Spoken ...... 70 2.2.3 A family man ...... 70 2.2.4 Pannababu’s anger! ...... 71 2.2.5 Stand for truth ...... 71 2.2.6 Nature on and off stage ...... 72 2.3 A saintly human ...... 72 2.4 Daily routine ...... 74 2.5 Habits and hobbies ...... 74 2.6 To sum up … ...... 75 Photographs and Documents ...... 77-90

Pannalal Ghosh XIX Sanskar Prakashan 3. The revolutionary experimentalist ...... 91

3.1 The grand 338 Hz flute with 7 fingering holes ...... 92 3.1.1 Beginning and journey till triumph ...... 92 3.1.2 General structure and specialty of the 7th fingering hole ...... 93 3.1.3 Length of his main flute and setting Shadja (key-note) at 338 Hz ...... 94 3.1.4 Materials and tools used for making ...... 95 3.1.5 Flute-making, experimental-flutes and flute-boxes...... 95 3.1.6 Fingering hole to be operated with the thumb for playing Pancham ...... 97 3.1.7 His technique of playing 338 Hz flute ...... 97 3.1.8 Genesis of the tradition of using only 6 fingering holes of flute; subsequent to Pannalal Ghosh ...... 98 3.2 The bass flute with 4 fingering holes ...... 99 3.2.1 Need, beginning and achievement ...... 99 3.2.2 Structure and playing technique ...... 99 3.3 Other creative additions ...... 100 3.3.1 The 6-stringed Taanpura he made ...... 100 3.3.2 New Raaga-s created ...... 101 3.4 The curious case of Pannababu using / creating other musical instruments ...... 101 3.4.1 High-pitch Taanpuri ...... 101 3.4.2 Soor-Peti ...... 102 3.4.3 Tip Tabla ...... 102 3.5 Significance of his innovations ...... 102

Photographs and Documents ...... 103-118

4. Furthering Pannalal Ghosh’s new Raaga-s : ...... 119 The works of Rasbihari Desai, Kabir Suman, Alhad G. Apte and Mohankumar Darekar

4.1 The structures of Pannababu’s new Raaga-s ...... 120 4.2 Kabir Suman’s works ...... 122 4.3 Alhad G. Apte’s works ...... 224 4.4 Mohankumar Darekar’s works ...... 126 4.4.1 Pannababu’s new Raaga-s capturing the mind ...... 126 4.4.2 The Raaga grammar ...... 126 4.4.3 The potential for presenting ...... 126 4.4.4 Rasa (mood) created ...... 126 4.3.5 Structures of new Raaga-s as realized by Dr. Darekar ...... 128 4.5 To sum up … ...... 129

Notations of compositions on ragaas created by Pannalal Ghosh ...... 131-156

Pannalal Ghosh XX Sanskar Prakashan 5. Composer and conductor of Hindusthani Raaga based orchestra ...... 157

5.1 Vadya Vrinda - The Indian orchestra...... 157 5.2 Pannababu’s orchestral compositions ...... 158 5.2.1 How it started ...... 158 5.2.2 His orchestra composing and conducting ...... 159 5.2.3 Musical instruments employed...... 162 5.2.4 Vadya Vrinda associated persons and sitting arrangements ...... 164 5.2.5 AIR Vadya Vrinda presentations...... 166 5.2.6 Miscellaneous relevant information ...... 168 Photographs and Documents ...... 171-206

6. Contributions in Indian motion-picture music ...... 207

6.1 Entry to motion-picture world and works at Kolkata ...... 207 6.2 Pannababu’s works as music director of motion-pictures ...... 209 6.3 The motion-pictures with his flute playback...... 211 6.4 Miscellaneous relevant information ...... 214 6.5 His moving away from motion-pictures ...... 215 Photographs and Documents ...... 217-222

7. Pannalal Ghosh, the flautist par excellence ...... 223

7.1 Previous and contemporary flautists ...... 225 7.1.1 Mastan Shah 7.1.2 Krishnachandra Tipnis 7.1.3 Kumar Gopendra Narayan 7.1.4 Dinakar-rao Amembal (D’ Amel) 7.1.5 Badri Prasad 7.1.6 Raghunath Prasanna 7.1.7 Bholanath Prasanna 7.2 Pannababu’s imbibing music and refinement of musical concepts ...... 226 7.3 His dedicated efforts to perfect flute playing ...... 228 7.3.1 Habitual prolonged meditation ...... 228 7.3.2 Prolonged flute practice sessions every day ...... 228 7.3.3 Insistence on practicing the Palta ...... 228 7.3.4 Prioritizing difficult Raaga-s ...... 230 7.3.5 Use of mode-change flutes for precise expression of certain Raaga ...... 230 7.3.6 Purist’s approach on using the background keynote drones ...... 230 7.4 The grand music Pannababu left behind ...... 231 7.4.1 The Raaga Pannababu was well-versed with ...... 231 7.4.2 The Hindusthani (North Indian) Raaga-s he played ...... 235 7.4.3 The Carnatic (South Indian) Raaga-s he played ...... 246 7.4.4 Available recordings of the new Raaga-s he created ...... 247

Pannalal Ghosh XXI Sanskar Prakashan 7.4.5 His semi-classical renditions...... 248 7.4.6 Salient features of his solo recitals in classical music...... 251 7.4.6.1 His flute playing style ...... 251 7.4.6.2 Start-point of his renditions...... 255 7.4.6.3 The range of notes he would use ...... 255 7.4.6.4 Pannababu’s mastery on Laya and Taal ...... 256 7.4.6.5 The folk music he rendered ...... 257 7.4.6.6 The Raaga-s he created and adopted ...... 257 7.4.6.7 Summary of 7.4.6 ...... 258 7.5 His flute performances ...... 258 7.6 Pannababu’s musical skills other than flute ...... 269 7.7 Recapitulation ...... 269 Photographs and Documents ...... 271-304

8. Parul Ghosh - The legendary woman behind the legend Pannalal Ghosh ...... 305

8.1 A brief life sketch ...... 305 8.2 The musical journey ...... 306 8.3 Personal and social life of Parul-ji and Pannababu ...... 307 8.4 The couple’s duet life in service to music ...... 308 8.5 The spiritual partners ...... 309 8.6 To recapitulate … ...... 309 Photographs and Documents ...... 311-314

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9. Appendices ...... 315

Appx. A References ...... 316 Appx. B z1 – z25 : References with inadequate citation details ...... 324 z26 : Programme for visit of Herman Swallow ...... 342 z27 : V.K. Narayana Menon's sketch for Television Film ...... 343 z28 : Cover letter for circulation of Shooting Script of TV ...... 352 z29 : Letter from N.S. Kulkarni ...... 354 z30 : Write-up on Pannababu in ‘The Indian Listener’ ...... 356 Appx. C WEB-literature (w1 – w80) ...... 357 Appx. D Anecdotes (a1 – a982) ...... 366-494 Appx. E Notations of Hindusthani classical orchestras composed by Pannalal Ghosh (E.1 – E.30) ...... 495-596

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Pannalal Ghosh XXII Sanskar Prakashan