Lalmani Misra Biography 
Lalmani Misra was a renowned musician and composer who also performed in the string instrument, Vichitra Veena. He lived during the period, 11 August 1924 – 17 July 1979, and was one of the leading artists among his contemporaries. Known to be a researcher and inventor, he also published many research works on music. Ananda Shankar had learnt the art of orchestration from Misra. He also served as a professor of Department of Performing Arts at BHU, and headed the department. He was a visiting Professor to Music faculty at Penn University, Philadelphia from 1969 to 1978.
Lalmani Misra was born on 11 August 1924 in Kanpur. He learnt Dhamar in Dhrupad tradition from Pt. Shankar Bhatt and Munshi Bhrigunath Lal. He later learnt Khayal singing with Ustad Mehndi Hussain Khan, Dhruvpad, Bhajan and Tabla from Swami Pramodanand and sitar from Shri Shukdev Roy. He studied Hindustani music vocal as well as different musical instruments and finally received training in different instruments from Ustad Amir Ali Khan, to get a finishing touch to whatever he has studied till then.
He was very brilliant since young, and was appointed as assistant music director in Shehanshahi Recording Company, Kolkata when he was only 12 years old. As an assistant, he worked under many renowned music directors for film music. He got interested in orchestration after his interaction with many renowned artists of this field.
In 1940 he returned to his hometown following his father’s death, and later experimented with different musical instruments. He also opened many musical schools for kids. He also served as the music composer of Uday Shankar’s troupe, which travelled across the globe. He has served as Registrar of Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mandal Mahavidyalaya, Mumbai and also taught many students in different educational institutions. He was fully active in his field till his death in 1979.
Published: October 08, 2018
Updated: October 08, 2018
