- Girija Devi
Girija Devi (b. May 8, 1929, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India) is an Indian singer and represents the Banaras Gharana of singers. She is adept at different genres of Hindustani vocal music including Khyal, Thumri, Dadra, Chaiti and Kajari, but she excels in the "Poorab ang" Thumri. She has been described as the "last living queen of thumri". Her father Ramdeo Rai was a local Zaminadar and interested in classical Indian music.
- V. G. Jog
Pandit Vishnu Govind Jog, better known as V. G. Jog (b. Satara district, Maharashtra, India, 1921 or 1922; d. South Calcutta, India, January 31, 2004), was an Indian violinist. He was the foremost exponent of the violin in the Hindustani music tradition in the 20th century, and is credited for introducing this instrument into Hindustani music. Jog was a disciple of Baba Allauddin Khan.
- Talat Mahmood
Talat Mahmood (February 24, 1924 -- May 9, 1998) was an Indian Bollywood singer and actor. He was a recipient of Padma Bhushan. He was famous for his ghazals, resulting in a title of "king of ghazals" bestowed upon him by fans and critics. Talat has often been described as a singer with a silky voice. His voice never suited loud songs, songs that demanded a high-pitched voice. Shouting or screaming didn't suit him and so he avoided those kinds of songs too.
- Anup Jalota
Anup Jalota is a famous Indian singer/musician, best known for his performances in the Indian musical form the bhajan and the ghazal. He was born in Phagwara, Punjab and educated in Lucknow. Anup started his musical career as a chorus singer in All India Radio. He is the son of Purushottam Das Jalota, a renowned exponent of the bhajan.
- Amrita Pritam
Amrita Pritam (',, ') was an Indian writer. She is considered the first prominent woman Punjabi poet, novelist, and essayist. When the former British India was partitioned into the independent states of India and Pakistan, she migrated to India in 1947.
- Ronu Majumdar
Ronu Majumdar is a noted flautist in the Hindustani Classical Music tradition. Born in Varanasi on June 20, 1963, Ranendranath Majumdar, popularly known as Ronu was trained under his father and later learned vocal music with the late Pt. Laxman Prasad Jaipurwale at whose behest he reverted to the flute. In 1981, Ronu Majumdar won the first prize at the All India Radio competition.
- Pankaj Mullick
Pankaj Kumar Mullick (10 May 1904 - 19 February 1978) was the fourth recipient of Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1973. He is also known as the "First Man" of Rabindra Sangeet. He had been well known as a music composer and singer. However, he has also acted and penned the lyrics for some films. He was closely associated with Bengali cinema and also Bollywood. He was one of the first artists of All India Radio or "Akashvani".
- P. Susheela
Pulapaka Susheela (born 1935) is an Indian playback singer. She has recorded several songs in many Indian languages including Telugu, language and Kannada. Her career spanned about four decades. Susheela was born in 1935 in Vijayanagaram, Andhra Pradesh. In 1950, music director Nageswara Rao was looking for new talent and scouted for new singers at All India Radio. Of the five people referred, Susheela was selected and Susheela sang her first song, …
- Budhaditya Mukherjee
Budhaditya Mukherjee is a Hindustani classical sitar and surbahar player of the Imdadkhani Gharana (school). He was taught by his father Bimalendu Mukherjee from the age of 5, and started making a name for himself at a young age. In 1970, he won two national-level music competitions, and soon after was famously endorsed in glowing terms first by film maker Satyajit Ray and then South Indian veena great Balachander, who proclaimed him "sitar artist of the century".
- Shamshad Begum
Shamshad Begum (born April 14, 1919) is an Indian singer who was one of the first playback singers in the film industry. Shamshad Begum was born in Amritsar, Punjab. She was a big fan of K.L. Saigal and watched "Devdas" 14 times. She earned 15 rs per song and was awarded 5000 on the completion of the contract on jenaphone. She started her radio career on Peshawar Radio and did work in Lahore, Dehli etc. She made her debut on radio in Lahore on December 16, …
- Harsha Bhogle
Harsha Bhogle is a leading Indian cricket commentator and journalist of Marathi Chitpavan Brahmin background.<P> He hosts television programs such as "Harsha Online", "Harsha Unplugged" and "School Quiz Olympiad" for ESPN and Star Sports. Harsha is Indian cricket's first non-player celebrity and also appears in several TV and print commercials. He has also written a book, "Azhar - the Authorized Biography of Mohammad Azharuddin".
- Samir Chatterjee
Pandit Samir Chatterjee is a virtuoso tabla player from India. He travels widely across the world throughout the year performing in numerous festivals as a soloist or with other outstanding musicians from both Indian and western traditions. His compositions are widely acclaimed as well as his writings. Chatterjee began his studies early with Pandit Bankim Ghosh, Pandit Balaram Mukherjee, Pandit Rathin Dhar and Mohammad Salim.
- Roshan
Roshan Lal Nagrath, better known simply by his first name "Roshan", was a famous Bollywood film music composer. He is the father of the actor and film director Rakesh Roshan and music director Rajesh Roshan, father-in-law of actress Pinky Roshan, and grandfather of Rakesh and Pinky's son, superstar film actor Hrithik Roshan. Roshan was born in Gujranwala, Punjab, British India (now part of Punjab in Pakistan). He began music lessons at a young age, …
- Doraiswamy Iyengar
Doreswamy Iyengar, generally known as Mysore V Doreswamy Iyengar (1920 - 1997), was born into a family of musicians. His father, Venkatesha Iyengar, was himself a Vainika and a musician in the court of the Maharaja of Mysore. He started learning the Veena from his father at an early age and soon became the disciple of Veena Venkatagiriyappa one of the foremost Vainikas of the day in Mysore. He gave his first public performance in 1943, …
- Iqbal Bano
Iqbal Bano (b. 1935) is a Ghazal singer from Pakistan and a singer of both classical and modern ghazals. Iqbal Bano was born in 1935 in Delhi. She was brought up and raised in Delhi. Iqbal was a very talented girl musically. She possessed a sweet and appealing voice. Even from a young age, Bano developed a love for music. It was a crucial situation of her life when her friend's father came forward as a votary. He told her father "My daughters do sing reasonably well, …
- Rajeev Janardan
Rajeev Janardan (1967-), is a Hindustani classical sitar player of the Imdadkhani ( Etawah) gharana (school), taught by Bimalendu Mukherjee. He is married to guitar player Kamala Shankar, with whom he performs together. At the age of 15, Janardan won the All India Music Competition. He has also won the Prayag Sangit Samiti All-India Music Competition and the Sur Singar Samsad competition in Mumbai, and at the age of 19, …
- Shreekumar Varma
Shreekumar Varma is an Indian author, newspaper columnist and poet, known for the novels "Lament of Mohini" (Penguin, 2000) and "Devil's Garden: Tales Of Pappudom" (Puffin, 2006) and the historical book for children, "The Royal Rebel" (Macmillan, 1997). He is the great grandson of the artist Raja Ravi Varma and grandson of Regent Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi, the last ruling Maharani of Travancore. He was born in 1955 in Satelmond Palace, Poojapura, …
- Mani Madhava Chakyar
Mani Madhava Chakyar: The Master at Work is a biographical film on the life and work of Mani Madhava Chakyar. Parvati Viraham (1993, Central Sangeet Natak Academy, New Delhi) features Mani Madhava Chakyar as Ravana in the "Pārvatī Viraham" ("separation of Pārvatī") in Koodiyattam form. It includes the famous "Pakarnnattam" abhinaya of the maestro. In Manifestations of Shiva (1981, Malcolm Leigh& Stella Kramrisch, …
- Nisar Bazmi
Nisar Bazmi was one of most respected music composers of Sub-continent from Pakistan. Nisar Bazmi was responsible for introducing Alamgir to film music in Pakistan and the famous duo of Laxmikant-Piyarelal were musicians with him before partition of South Asia. He was born in 1924 in Khandesh, Naseerabad, Bombay , British India. His father was Syed Qudrat Ali. He had no musical background. Nisar Bazmi's musical interest Impressed prominent Indian musician of Bombay, …
- Pandit Pran Nath
Pran Nath (3 November 1918-13 June 1996) was a Hindustani classical singer and teacher of the Kirana gharana (school), with a successful American career. Pran Nath was born into a wealthy family in Lahore in present-day Pakistan. While avid devotees of music (inviting musicians into the house to perform nightly), the family did not approve of his desire to become a musician, …
- Jayanthi Kumaresh
Jayanthi Kumaresh, also known as Veena Jayanthi, is an adept veena player. She was a student of maestro Veena S. Balachander. She has many credits to her name including the youngest veena player to receive 'A Top' from All India Radio and has quite a few musical productions to her credit. She has received four Best Veena Artiste awards from the Music Academy in Chennai. She is the niece of the legendary Lalgudi G. Jayaraman, …
- P. Bhaskaran
Pulloottupadathu Bhaskaran Nair better known as P. Bhaskaran (April 21, 1924 - February 25, 2007) was a famous malayalam poet and lyricist of malayalam film songs. He penned songs for about 3000 songs in around 250 films. He also had directed and acted in several malayalam films. He was a journalist and an All India Radio employee before becoming active in the film industry. He was well-known for simple but beautiful use of the language in his songs.
- Ustad Bahadur Khan
Ustad Bahadur Khan (born Bahadur Hossain Khan, January 19, 1931) was considered a great Indian Sarode maestro of his times
- Malika Pukhraj
Malika Pukhraj was a highly popular singer of Pakistan. Malika Pukhraj who was coached by Ustad Allah Buksh (father of Bare Ghulam Ali Khan) joined Maharaja Hari Singh’s court when she was only 8. Over the next 8 decades she captivated her audience with her command over the singing genres of Thumri, Ghazal, Bhajan and folk Pahari Geet. Malika Pukhraj received the Presidential Pride of Performance Award and the legend of Voice from All India Radio in mid-1980s.
- Pradip Somasundaran
Pradip Somasundaran (born January 26 1967 at Nelluvaya, Thrissur, Kerala), also known as Pradeep Somasundaram, is a playback singer and a lecturer in Electronics from Kerala, India.
- Madhu Balakrishnan
Madhu Balakrishnan (June 24, 1974) is an Indian playback singer, who sings in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada languages. He is the brother-in-law of Indian Test cricket and One day cricket Player Sreesanth.
- Sukanya Balakrishnan
Sukanya Balakrishnan is a news reader in India. Sukanya Balakrishnan lives in New Delhi. She reads news in India's National broadcaster Doordarshan. Now she reads news in All India Radio, New Delhi. She is the wife of an IAS officer. She hails from the state of Kerala.
- Roshan Ara Begum
Roshan Ara Begum (b. 1917? - d. December 6, 1982) was one of South Asia's early classical singers and vocalists. She is revered as the Mallika-e-Mauseeqi or Queen of Music in Pakistan. Roshan Ara Begum was born in Calcutta in or around 1917.
- Rajalakshmi
T. A. Rajalakshmi was a Malayalam writer and poet in India. Born at Cherpulassery, Palakkad, her father was Mararth Achutha Menon and mother was Kutty Malu Amma. As a notable writer she got Kerala Sahithya Academy Award in 1960 for her work “Oru Vazhiyum Kure Nizhalukalum” (A Path and a Few Shadows). It later became a TV serial and will soon be broadcast as a play by All India Radio. Her famous poem is “Ninne Njan Snehikkunnu.” She committed suicide in 1965.
- Pravin Godkhindi
Pravin Godhkindi ((Kannada: ಪ್ರವೀಣ್ ಗೋಡಖಂಡಿ) is a flute (Bansuri) player following Hindusthani style of music.He is trained Electrical engineer.He is alumni of SDM College of Engineering and Technology,Dharwad.He plays traditional style of flute as well as western.He has experimented with fusion of both Indian and Western music.He has given many concerts and regular musician of All India Radio (A.I.R).
- Hasan Askari
Muhammad Hasan Askari (Urdu: محمد حسن عسکری was one of the most respected name among scholars, critics, writers and linguists of modern Urdu. He was an important voice within the modernist movement. Askari was born on November 5, 1919 in a village in Bulandshahr District, in western Uttar Pradesh, India. He joined Allahabad University as an undergraduate in 1938 and went on to earn a Master’s degree in English literature in 1942.
- Suraiya
Suraiya Jamaal Sheikh (June 15, 1929 - January 31, 2004) was a singer and actress in Indian films, and was popularly known as Suraiya in the film industry. She became a superstar in the 1940s and 50s during the time when actors sang their own songs. Suraiya was born as Suraiya Jamaal Sheikh on June 15, 1929 in Gujranwala, Punjab and was the only child of her parents. She was a dark plain looking girl and was not trained in music, …
- Badri Narayan
Badri Narayan (Born in Secunderabad, India in 1929) is an eminent Indian artist, illustrator, author and story-teller. He started painting with no formal training, and his first public showing was in 1949, followed by a solo show in 1954. In the years since, he has had over 50 solo shows and his work is in several collections, including the National Gallery of Modern Art and the National Museum (India) in New Delhi.
- Swapnil Bhartiya
Swapnil Bhartiya has written for CSIR, Bhabha Nuclear Research Center, Mumbai, IIT- Delhi, and NRDC. He is active member of many organisations engaged in popularising science in India, namely Indian Science Fiction Writer's Association, Varanasi. Swapnil has also been a trainer in the workshops organised by ISFWA. Swapnil is also an active blogger who writes on issues from technology to literature. He is also active in promotion of Linux through his blogs.
- Manish Sahi
Manish Sahi was born in London and educated in boarding schools in Nanital in the foothills of the Himalayas and Grammar Schools in England.He then spent a further few years living in Gorakhpur, India on the border of Nepal,where he spent a lot of time crossing the border to Lumbini the birth place of Buddha. On returning to England, he did his hotel management and a post grad in management from University of Westminster. He then moved back to Delhi to source antiques, …
- Devulapalli Krishnasastri
Devulapalli Krishnasastri (1887-1981) is a Telugu poet and was born in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, India. He was brought up in family of court-poets and he started writing poetry from a very young age. Krishnasastri's works changed significantly after he met Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore at Santiniketan in 1929. Krishnasastri joined All India Radio in 1945 and has written number of plays for it.
- Gurram Jashuva
Gurram Jashuva or G Joshua (b. 28 September, 1895-d. 24 July, 1971) was a popular Telugu poet, born into a poor Christian family in Vinukonda, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, India. He was discriminated as an untouchable in school, college and professional life. Jashuva was born to Virayya and Lingamma. Because of the intercaste alliance of his parents, their poverty and their caste, his childhood was spent in alienation from close relatives, …
- N. S. Ramachandran
Professor N. S. Ramachandran was one of the leading composers of Carnatic music. His family roots can be traced back to a small village in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu called Nemam in Tanjore district. His Grandfather Sri Nemam Subramanya Iyer had the privilege of being a direct disciple of the great Sri Tyagaraja Tyagaraja. The art of music that he learnt has been passed down through the generations from him.
- K Raveendran
K Raveendran is a Dubai-based journalist, contributing articles and columns to the Persian Gulf's leading newspapers such as the Khaleej Times and Gulf News, apart from Daily Star-International Herald Tribune from Beirut. He is also the managing editor of UAE Banking Review and UAE Digest, two current affairs titles. One of the senior-most business journalists to have worked in the Gulf, he has been based in Dubai since 1994, when he joined Khaleej Times as Business Editor.
- Madhava Gudi
Madhava Gudi is a Hindustani classical vocalist, specialising in Khayal and light forms. Born into a family of keertankars and harikatha (devotional) musicians, Madhava Gudi was introduced to music at a very early age. His initial training was under Pandit Basavaraja Rajaguru. He received further training from the Kirana scion Pandit Bhimsen Joshi in a guru-shishya milieu which lasted well over twenty-five years.