TheIndian Music Archive
Portrait of Pandit Rajendra Prasanna

Photograph by MargueriteMB, 2011 (CC BY 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons

Hindustani classical · b. 1956

Pandit Rajendra Prasanna

A Benares musician who performs on both the bansuri and the shehnai at the front rank.

Instrument
BansuriShehnai
Gharana
Benares
Born
15 April 1956, Varanasi

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Bhairav to Bhairavi, part II — twenty-one raags on shehnai

1:41:35 · Pt. Rajendra Prasanna

A medley of twenty-one raags, offered in memory of his uncle and teacher Pandit Vishnu Prasanna

Published by the musician himself. The raag sequence is listed in his own description.

Watch on YouTubeUploaded 2021-08-20

Catalogue entry

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Biography

Life

Rajendra Prasanna received his first training within the Prasanna family of Varanasi, studying under his father Raghunath Prasanna and his uncles Bholanath Prasanna and Vishnu Prasanna. After the family moved to Delhi he studied with Hafeez Ahmed Khan and Sarfaraz Hussain Khan of the Rampur–Sahaswan gharana, and learned the semi-classical repertoire of Banaras under Mahadev Prasad Mishra.

He has performed widely outside India, appearing at the Edinburgh Festival, the Sydney Opera House, WOMAD festivals in Australia and New Zealand, the Opera de Lyon, the Philharmonie de Paris and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. In 1997 he took part in world music concerts marking the golden jubilee of Indian independence in America, Canada and at the United Nations headquarters in Switzerland, and he appeared in the Ravi Shankar–led Concert for George in London.

His recordings include "Indian Classical Music by Rajendra Prasanna" for T-Series, "Flute Fantasy", "Tribute to Pt. Raghunath Prasanna" and a 2006 shehnai tribute to Ustad Bismillah Khan. He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Hindustani instrumental music — flute and shehnai — in 2017.

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Musical contribution

What they brought to music

Moves between bansuri and shehnai, carrying the Prasanna family's flute style alongside the Banaras semi-classical repertoire.

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Lineage & company

Teachers, students and musical connections

In the documented teaching trees

Where the archive's lineage research places Pandit Rajendra Prasanna, and the teaching links recorded around them inside each tree.

  • Bansuri concert lineageBorn 1956

    Performs at the top level on both bansuri and shehnai in the Banaras family tradition.

People

Grouped by the kind of relationship the sources record — who taught this musician, who they taught, family, and the people they played with.

Teachers and gurus

Family

Recognition

Honours and recognition

  • 2017Sangeet Natak Akademi AwardHindustani instrumental music — flute and shehnai.

Community

Memories from the community

Personal recollections, not verified history

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Provenance

Sources and image credits

Photograph by MargueriteMB, 2011 (CC BY 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons

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