Hindustani classical · b. 1963

Pandit Ronu Majumdar

A widely travelled bansuri player of the Maihar tradition, known for collaboration and large ensemble projects.

Instrument
Bansuri
Born
22 June 1963, Varanasi

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Where to start

Begin listening

Bansuri recital with Pandit Sanju Sahai, Sankat Mochan Sangeet Samaroh 2023

Performed 2023 · 1:31:45 · Sankat Mochan Mandir

Flute–tabla recital at Sankat Mochan Hanuman Mandir, Varanasi. Performance year from the temple channel's own description; premiere date is the upload.

Watch on YouTubeUploaded 2025-12-28

Alap in Raag Bhoopeshwari

Bhoopeshwari · 12:15 · darbarfestival

Alap excerpt published by Darbar Festival. Performance date not stated by the uploader.

Watch on YouTubeUploaded 2014-05-21

Morning Raag Parameshwari with Sukhvinder Singh

Parameshwari · 4:54 · darbarfestival

Bansuri with Sukhvinder Singh on tabla; raag credited by Darbar to Ravi Shankar. Performance date not stated.

Watch on YouTubeUploaded 2016-04-20

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Biography

Life

Ronu Majumdar was born in Varanasi. His father, Bhanu Majumdar, was a homeopathic doctor and painter and an amateur flautist who had taken lessons from Pandit Pannalal Ghosh, and he gave his son an early grounding on the instrument. Majumdar went on to study with Laxman Prasad Jaipurwale and with Pandit Vijay Raghav Rao. In 1981 he won first prize at the All India Radio competition and the President's gold medal.

He has recorded more than thirty releases and worked with Pandit Ravi Shankar on the albums "Passages" and "Chants of India". Beyond the concert platform he has composed pieces joining Hindustani music with Western classical and other forms, in projects including "Carrying Hope", "A Traveller's Tale" and "Song of Nature". He has performed across Europe, North America, Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East, and appeared at the Festival of India in Moscow and at Asiad 1982 in Delhi.

He has also led very large ensembles: the "Venu Naad" concert of 5,378 flautists, and in December 2024 the hundredth Tansen Samaroh in Gwalior, performed by 546 musicians and recorded as a Guinness world record for the largest Hindustani classical band. He won the Aditya Vikram Birla Award in 1999, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2014, and received the Padma Shri from the President of India in April 2025.

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Musical contribution

What they brought to music

Maihar-rooted flute playing, with a long record of jugalbandi, cross-genre composition and mass-ensemble projects.

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Lineage & company

Teachers, students and musical connections

In the documented teaching trees

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

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

Collaborators and accompanists

Recognition

Honours and recognition

Highest national honour first, then by year.

  • 2025Padma ShriPresented in April 2025.
  • 2014Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
  • 1981All India Radio competition, first prizeAwarded with the President's gold medal.
  • 1999Aditya Vikram Birla Award

Community

Memories from the community

Personal recollections, not verified history

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Provenance

Sources and image credits

Photograph by Suyash Dwivedi, 2024 (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons

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