WKCR is pleased to announce a 12-hour birthday broadcast celebrating the 88th birthday of musical director and bansuri player Hariprasad Chaurasia. This broadcast will preempt all regularly scheduled Wednesday programming from 6 am to 6 pm on July 1st. This special broadcast will include an interview with Pandit Chaurasia to be aired during David Ellenbogen's noon to 3 pm program.
Hariprasad Chaurasia was born on July 1st, 1938, in Allahabad (now known as Prayagraj), Uttar Pradesh, India. Unlike most classical Indian musicians of his generation, Chaurasia was not born into a family of musicians. To please his father, he studied stenography and wrestling but secretly took voice lessons in the Hindustani classical tradition from Raja Ram. After hearing a performance by flutist Bholanath Prasanna, he chose to become his disciple and trained rigorously under him for 8 years. At the age of 19, he secured a job performing and composing with All India Radio and was quickly transferred to their headquarters in Bombay (present-day Mumbai). There, he made music for films alongside Shivkumar Sharma and Bhubaneswar Misra, creating popular hits for movies such as Maa O Mamata (1980). However, he also remained true to his classical music practice, following the mentorship of Annapurna Devi. TO this day, Chaurasia plays the bansuri left-handed – at the request of Devi, who would only take him on as a pupil if he switched from right-handed to left-handed. He belonged to the Senia Gharna, where, through years of dedication and experimentation, he developed his own style, both innovative and traditional, which helped popularize classical music. Chaurasia won multiple awards, including two of the highest Indian civilian honors, the Padma Bhushan (1992) and the Padma Vibhushan (2000).
To join us in celebrating Chaurasia’s innovation, listeners can tune in to this birthday broadcast on 89.9 FM or stream it live on our website at wkcr.org. Follow WKCR on Instagram (@wkcr) and Twitter (@WKCRFM) for updates about this special broadcast and future events. Online listening is available 24/7 at wkcr.org via our web stream.
