Pandit Nikhil Ghosh

Nikhil Ghosh was born in 1918 in Barisal, in what was then East Bengal, the younger brother of the flautist Pandit Pannalal Ghosh. His first music came from his father, Akshay Kumar Ghosh, a sitarist known locally.

He trained in tabla and in vocal music under several musicians, among them Ustad Ahmed Jan Thirakwa, Ustad Amir Hussain Khan and Guru Jnan Prakash Ghosh; his playing was accordingly associated with the Delhi, Ajrada, Farrukhabad, Lucknow and Punjab styles rather than one alone. As an accompanist he played with musicians of the stature of Ustad Faiyaz Khan, Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan, Ustad Allauddin Khan, Pandit Omkarnath Thakur, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Amir Khan, his brother Pannalal Ghosh, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Nikhil Banerjee, Pandit Jasraj, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma.

In 1956 he founded the music school that became Sangit Mahabharati, first known as Arun Sangeetalaya; the foundation stone of its present Mumbai premises was laid by Ustad Ahmed Jan Thirakwa on 20 October 1969. He taught, wrote and researched there for the rest of his life. He received the Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan Award and, in 1990, the Padma Bhushan. Three of his children — Nayan Ghosh, Dhruba Ghosh and Tulika Ghosh — became musicians.

A tabla style drawing on several gharanas, shaped as much by teaching and research as by the concert platform.