In Memory of

Sangeet Acharya Pandit Chinmoy Lahiri was himself a notable name in the field of North Indian Classical Music. He was born in the year 1920,on 20th March in a Zamindar family of Tantibandh, Pabna District (Bangladesh). His father Shri Srijeeb Chandra Lahiri was a Civil Engineer (Bengal Engineering College, Shibpur) & mother Smt. Saroj-Bashini Devi.Though Acharya Chinmoy Lahiri was initated in music at a very tender age and initially guided by Guru Sri Rabin Chattopadhyay.

Later Acharya Chinmoy Lahiri moved to Lucknow ,where he stayed for many years. It was his historic time of lessons from the different maestros of Indian Classical Music which includes Pandit Shrikrishna Narayan Ratanjhankar'Ji,who was the former Principal of Lucknow Morris College, now popularly known as Bhatkhande Music College. Acharya Lahiri too was a pupil in that College. His rigorous taalim /training continued with Pandit. S.N.Ratanjhankar ji (Agra Gharana) for many years. While in between Acharya Chinmoy Lahiri gained his extensive taalim from Pandit Dilip Chandra Bedi (Agra Gharana), Pandit Dhruv Tara Joshi (Belonging to Gwalior Rampur And Kairana), Khalifa Ustad Khurshid Ali Khan and Ustad Chotte Khan too.But Acharya Chinmoy Lahiri was able to blend his taalim/training along with his own imaginary aspects of Khayal Gayaki which made him popular and different from other performers of his time.He also became an artiste of All India Radio Lucknow. Though he also worked at Dhaka (Bangladesh) Radio.

But finally he moved to Kolkata where he stayed the rest of his life. Kolkata was enough fortunate to have such a maestro of his time. Acharya Chinmoy Lahiri was multidimensional figure in aspect of Music. He was not only a successful performer but he was one of the successful Guru/Trainer of his time, he has trained numerous disciples who flagged his name across the Globe. A few of his disciples are Geetashree Sandhya Mukherjee, Padmashree Begum Parveen Sultana, Vidushi Shipra Bose, Vidushi Haimanti Shukla,Pandit Dinanath Mishra, Shri Manabendra Mukherjee, Shri Shyamal Mitra, Shri Satinath Mukherjee, Smt. Arati Mukherjee, Smt. Pratima Banerjee, Shri Akhilbandhu Ghosh, Shri Jatileshwar Mukherjee, Pandit Shyamal Lahiri (Son)Vidushi Mandira Lahiri (Daughter-in-law) etc. Acharya Chinmoy Lahiri didn't stopped as a performer and as a Guru/Trainer.

He was so creative with his musicality that was enough to describe his vast knowledge of Music. But his creations too made a history in the field of Indian Classical & Light Classical Music. He has given birth to the numerous Raga with his own credit like Shyam-kauns, Dhani-Kauns, Nand-Kauns, Lalita, Prabhati Todi, Jogomaya, Roop-kalyani, Kushumi-Kalyan etc. Thousands of bandishes are created by Acharya Chinmoy Lahiri with his pen name "MAGAN" in different common and uncommon ragas.He had a strong lyrical command to express his poetic description through his music. Therefore he had wrote several Thumri, Dadra,Hori, Bhajan, Geet, Ghazal and Ragpradhan (An important of Semi classical music from Bengal). His several compositions are recorded by him and by his notable disciples.He has also published a book of Four Series named as "Magan-Geet-O-Taan-Manjari",where he had detailed about various ragas in Four Volumes.

Acharya Chinmoy Lahiri worked as a Trainer in HMV and also was an eminent professor at RABINDRA BHARTI UNIVERSITY. The world famous Bengali Ragpradhan "Tribeni Tirtho Pothe Ke Gahilo Gaan" was one of his notable composition which was used in a film "Saap-Mochon", where he acted as Guru/Trainer of famous Actress Legendary Sushree Suchitra Sen.The composition was presented by Acharya Pandit Chinmoy Lahiri and Smt.Pratima Banerjee (Disciple). Another title Music from Deya-Neya " Jamuna Ko Chaley Radhika Gori"based on Raga Rageshri Set to Drut Ektaal was a remarkable presentation by Acharya Pandit Chinmoy Lahiri and Vidushi Shipra Bose (disciple) which won the hearts of all Bengalis across the Globe.

Acharya Chinmoy Lahiri was one of the notable examples of his era who excecuted the Sargam and Taans with different styles which became his exceptional quality or identity in Khayal Gayaki (Way of Singing). As he had extensive taalim/training of different Gharanas(School of Music), he excecuted the best features in his own way.He used to emphasise on the lyrical part of the Khayal Music too, it was his remarkable nature to unfold the literature of the Bandish (Lyrics of the Raga) while maintaining the Orthodox nature of the Raga. He never ignored the emotive content hidden with the raga, he used to present it in a multidisciplinary way which included the characteristics of the Raga, the emotive content, the bold literature with meaningful sentences, the various aspects of Barhat (Expansion of the raga), the bol behelva(words distribution without hampering the raga) , of course the laykari (The Rhythmic patterns), Sargam and Taans with various creative ornamentations. He has transformed his knowledge to his disciples who are still carrying his legacy and also transforming the legacy to the young generations.

Sangeet Acharya Pandit Chinmoy Lahiri handed his treasures to his senior disciples which includes his Son Pandit Shyamal Lahiri and Daughter-in-law Vidushi Mandira Lahiri who are also a reputed artiste of their own credit.They are doing a marvelous job regarding the legacy of Sangeet Acharya Pandit Chinmoy Lahiri. Magan Mandir an organisation named after the maestro Acharya Chinmoy Lahiri. Magan Mandir is spreading the creations of Sangeet Acharya Chinmoy Lahiri in the different corners of the world. Magan Mandir conducted huge Indian Classical Music conferences in Kolkata, New Delhi etc. Also spreading the legacy amongst the youth with several workshops and seminars. Finally we can conclude that Acharya Pandit Chinmoy Lahiri is still alive with us in various ways and his existence will be forever till the Indian Music Exist in this World.