Santidev Ghosh

Santidev Ghose
Born7 May 1910
Died1 December 1999 (aged 89 years)
Other namesSantideb Ghosh
Shantidev Ghosh
Occupation(s)author, singer, maestro

Santidev Ghose (also Santidev Ghosh, Shantidev Ghosh and Santideb Ghosh) (Santiniketan, 7 May 1910 – 1 December 1999)[1] was an Indian author, singer, actor, dancer and maestro of Rabindra Sangeet.

Sagarmoy Ghosh, the renowned editor of Bengali literary journal Desh, was his younger brother. [1]

As a teenager, Ghosh was selected by Rabindranath Tagore to be a teacher in Santiniketan and sent across India and even to Sri Lanka, Java and Bali to further his musical education for that purpose. Tagore also encouraged Ghosh to act and dance in the poet-laureate's dance dramas, for which Ghosh displayed an uncommon talent for singing, as well as dancing and acting. Some of the poems of Tagore which he converted to new forms of poem-songs, to be sung continuous without repeating the first two lines after each stanza, such as "Krishnakali", were first presented to the public by Ghosh. During his long and productive life in Santiniketan, Ghosh taught numerous students, many of whom were to later become famed notable singers themselves, such as Suchitra Mitra and Pramita Mallick.[2] He also garnered fame as author and an authority, on Asian music and especially that of Rabindranath Tagore. During his life, he received notable awards and recognition from the music academies as well as Universities and the Government of India, and was declared a National Scholar by the Government of India. In 2002, India released a postage stamp on Ghosh to commemorate his contribution to music. The Minister for Communication and Information Technology noted that Ghosh "belonged to that class of musicians who through the ages carried forward music's unique creativity".[3]

In 1976, he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship the highest honour conferred by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama.[4]

  1. ^ The Tribune (2 December 1999) Spotlight tribuneindia.com Retrieved 17 March 2008.
  2. ^ Calcutta Yellow Pages Retrieved on 17 March 2008.
  3. ^ Times of India. (1 December 2002) Stamp on Rabindra Sangeet maestro Santidev Ghosh released. indiatimes.com Retrieved 17 March 2008.
  4. ^ "SNA: List of Sangeet Natak Akademi Ratna Puraskarwinners (Akademi Fellows)". Official website. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.