Samta Prasad Biography 
Pandit Samta Prasad was an Indian classical musician and tabla player who belonged to the Benares gharana of Hindustani music. Bollywood music composer Rahul Dev Burman was one of his disciples. This artist has worked for several Hindi movies as a tabla player. Meri Surat Teri Ankhen (1963) and Sholay (1975) are a couple of movies which need special mention. Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje, Meri Surat Teri Ankhen, Basant Bahar and Asamapta are other noted movies. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1979 and the Padma Bhushan in 1991. His son, Pandit Kumar Lal Mishra is a noted tabla player at present.
Pandit Samta Prasad was born on 20 July 1921, in Kabir chaura, Varanasi as the son of Pandit Hari Sunder who was also known as Bacha Mishra. His grandfather was Pt. Jagannath Mishra. He was born in a musical family which had many ancestors belonging to the genre of Hindustani music. He steeped in the tradition of tabla and pakhawaj of Benaras gharana. He was initiated to music by his father at a younger age. But he lost his father when he was only 7. Later he learnt under Pandit Bikku Maharaj.
Prasad gave his first major performance at the "Allahabad Sangeet Sammelan" in 1942 through which he received appreciation. His successful debut was carried forward by many concerts later and very soon he established himself as an accompanist as well as a soloist. Apart from performing in music festivals of India, he has also visited many foreign countries like France, Russia and Edinburgh. Apart from R. D. Burman, Pandit Bhola Prasad Singh, Shashanka Bakshi, Nitin Chatterjee, Naba Kumar Panda and Satyanarayan Bashisht are his noted disciples.
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Updated: February 14, 2014
