Raghunath Prasanna
| Raghunath Prasanna | |
|---|---|
 Raghunath Prasanna at All India Radio | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 1913 |
| Died | 1999 (aged 85–86) |
| Genres | Indian classical music |
| Occupation(s) | Instrumentalist |
| Instruments | Bansuri, shehnai |
Pandit Raghunath Prasanna (c.1920 – June 1999) was an Indian classical shehnai and flute player. He was known for using the techniques of shehnai in flute playing, also inspired by vocal music.
Personal life and family
Raghunath was born around 1913 in Varanasi in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
He was married to Saraswati Devi. They had seven children. One of them is the flute and shehnai player Rajendra Prasanna, whose son Rishab also plays the bansuri.
Career
Raghunath got his musical training from his father Gauri Shanker, a shehnai player, and from Dauji Mishra from Varanasi. He was the first person in the family to introduce the art of flute playing in the family tradition, known until then for shehnai playing.
Raghunath was also known for playing Tripura bansuri and what he called Krishna bansuri.
His techniques have been adopted by his younger brother and disciple Bholanath Prasanna and by Ronu Majumdar.
His disciples include Bholanath Prasanna (guru of Hariprasad Chaurasia), Bhanu Majumdar (father of Ronu Majumdar).
Alain Daniélou has recorded his shehnai and tripura bansuri on the album "Anthology of Indian Classical Music" in 1955.
Prasanna received the Sangeet Natak Academi Award (1996).