Pandit Nikhil Jyoti Ghosh (28 December 1918 – 3 March 1995) was an Indian musician, teacher and writer, known for his proficiency in the percussion instrument of

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

. He founded ''Sangit Mahabharati'', an institution of music in 1956, and performed on various stages in India and abroad. A recipient of the ''Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan Award'', his style was known to have been aligned with the Delhi, Ajrada, Farukhabad, Lucknow and Punjab gharanas of music. The Government of India awarded him the third highest civilian honour of the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') 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 Januar ...

, in 1990, for his contributions to Music.

Biography

Nikhil Ghosh was born on 28 December 1918 in the small village of

Barisal Barisal ( or ; , ), 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 District and Barisal Divi ...

, in

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

(present-day Bangladesh) of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

as the younger brother of Pannalal Ghosh, a known flautist of

Hindustani classical music Hindustani classical music is the Indian classical music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent's northern regions. It may also be called North Indian classical music or ''Uttar Bhartiya shastriya sangeet''. The term ''shastriya sangeet'' ...

. After early training in music from his father, Akshay Kumar Ghosh, who was a locally known sitarist, he trained in vocals and tabla under several noted musicians such as Ahmed Jan Thirakwa, Amir Hussain Khan and Jnan Prakash Ghosh, and started performing on stage accompanying some of the notable musicians of his time, which included Faiyaz Khan, Hafiz Ali Khan,

Allauddin Khan Ustad Allauddin Khan (8 October 1862 – 6 September 1972), was a Bengalis, Bengali sarod player and multi-instrumentalist, composer and one of the most notable music teachers of the 20th century in Indian classical music. For a generation many ...

, Omkarnath Thakur, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Amir Khan, Pannalal Ghosh,

Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitar, sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known expert of Hin ...

Ali Akbar Khan Ali Akbar Khan (14 April 192218 June 2009) was an 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, ...

Vilayat Khan Ustad Vilayat Khan (28 August 1928 – 13 March 2004) was an Indian classical sitar player, considered by many to be the greatest sitarist of his age. Along with Imdad Khan, Enayat Khan, and Imrat Khan, he is credited with the creation a ...

, Bhimsen Joshi, Nikhil Banerjee, Vasant Rai,

Jasraj Pandit Jasraj (28 January 1930 – 17 August 2020) was an Indian classical vocalist, belonging to the ''Mewati gharana'' (musical apprenticeship lineage). His musical career spanned 75 years resulting in national and international fame, ...

, Amjad Ali Khan and Shiv Kumar Sharma. Ghosh founded Sangit Mahabharati, a school dedicated for classical music education in 1956. Here, he tutored several aspiring musicians, some of which have already made their names in Indian classical music; Aneesh Pradhan, Eknath Pimpale, Datta Yande, Karodilal Bhatt, Gert Wegner and Keith Manning are some of the notable ones among them. He also trained his sons, Nayan Ghosh and Dhruba Ghosh on Tabla and Sarangi respectively as well as his daughter, Tulika Ghosh, on vocals. all of them assist him in teaching at the school. Ghosh performed on many stages in India and abroad and performed solo at music festivals of

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the English county, county of Suffolk, England, north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the comp ...

(1958),

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(1958),

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(1980, 1982),

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(1985),

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(1985),

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(1985) and at

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, Paris in 1978. He also served as a visiting faculty of music at many universities. He made improvements in the conventional music notation system and wrote a book detailing his system under the title, ''Fundamentals of Raga and Tala: With a New System of Notation''. Later, he also supplemented the book with another ''Manuscript Book'' for easy notation. This was followed by the seminal work, ''The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Music of India'', with author credit going to his music school, Sangit Mahabharati. The Government of India awarded him the civilian honor of the

in 1990 and he received the ''Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan Award'' in 1995. He was married to Usha Nayampally, the marriage taking place in 1955. He died on 3 March 1995, at the age of 76, survived by his wife and three children.

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Biography

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Further reading