Raghunath Prasanna Biography 
Raghunath Prasanna was an Indian classical shehnai and flute player from Varanasi, who lived during the period, 1920 – June 1999. He was known for incorporating the techniques of shehnai in flute. He was a top grade artist of All India Radio, and has performed in music concerts across the country. His disciples include Bholanath Prasanna (guru of Hariprasad Chaurasia) and Bhanu Majumdar (father of Ronu Majumdar). He also trained his son Rajendra Prasanna and grandson Rishab Prasanna, who also earned fame as musicians. He received Sangeet Natak Academi Award in 1996.
Exact birth date of Prasanna is not clearly known. He was born in 1913 or 1920 in Varanasi, present-day Uttar Pradesh into a family which has been associated with classical music for many generations. His family traditionally played the shehnai for many generations. His brothers - Bholanath Prasanna and Vishnu Prasanna, his sons - Rajendra Prasanna, Ravi Shankar Prasanna and Rakesh Prasanna and grandsons - Rishab Prasanna and Rajesh Prasanna are also performers of flute in Hindustani style. They follow Varanasi tradition. He was married to Saraswati Devi and they had seven children, including the renowned musician Rajendra Prasanna.
His father Gauri Shanker was a shehnai player, who initially trained him music. Later he continued training under Dauji Mishra from Varanasi. His family has been associated with Shehnai for many generations, and Raghunath Prasanna was the first person to introduce flute to his family. The following generations performed this music instrument. Raghunath played Tripura bansuri, and what he called Krishna bansuri. He trained his younger brother Bholanath Prasanna with his techniques, a renowned artist of this field. His techniques were also adopted by Ronu Majumdar, whose father Bhanu Majumdar received musical training from Raghunath Prasanna.
Published: October 30, 2018
Updated: October 30, 2018
