(b Allahabad, 1 July 1938). Indian bānsurī player. He had his initial training in vocal music from Pandit Raja Ram and was taught to play the bānsurī by Pandit Bhola Nath. His principal teacher since the late 1960s has been Ustad Allauddin Khan's daughter Annapurna Devi, who is known as an outstanding sūrbahār player despite her refusal to play in public and reluctance to take on disciples.
Hari Prasad Chaurasia is credited with making great refinements to bānsurī technique – the flute had been reintroduced to the Hindustani concert stage by Pannalal Ghosh (1911–60) – as well as extending its repertory. He is one of the most popular concert and recording artists in India, and has toured all over the world and made numerous commercial recordings.
During the period 1962–6 he held the position of music composer at All India Radio. He has acted as music director (composer) for many Hindi and Oriya language films. In 1992 he was appointed Artistic Director of the Rotterdam Conservatory. His numerous honours include the Sangeet Natak Academy Award (1984), the Padma Bhushan (1992) and the Padma Vibhushan (2000).
Call of the Valley, H.P. Chaurasia, S.K. Shumar, B.B. Kabra, M. Popatkar perfs., HMV ECSD 2382 (1968)
Le flute de Hariprasad Chaurasia, Disques Esperance ESP 155 532 (1976) [Raga Suddha saranga, raga Madhuvanti, Dhun]
Written on the Wind, Audiorec ACCD 1008 (1990) [raga Marva, raga Durga, raga Pahadi]
Many others for HMV (India), Music Today (India), Musicaphon (Germany), Disques Esperance (France), Oriental (USA), Audiorec (UK), Navras (UK)
MARTIN CLAYTON