Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia requires no introduction. He surprisingly does not come from a long lineage of flautists. His father was a famous wrestler who had aspirations of his son following in his footsteps. His mother had died when he was five and his father raised him along with his two siblings. 
Born on 1 July 1938, in Allahabad of Uttar Pradesh, younger Chaurasia had an early love for music. His initial music lessons were from Pandit Rajaram who was his neighbour. When he was 15, he heard a flute recital by Pandit Bholanath and was so impressed that he changed his focus to studying the flute from him. In the meantime he found a job, initially as a typist and then as a clerk in the U.P. government.
When he was just 19, he got a job playing for All India Radio, Cuttack, Orissa, and within five years he was transferred to their headquarters in Bombay. After a brief stint in Bollywood, he went to the reclusive Anna purna Devi where he played the surbahar. She was the daughter of Baba Allauddin Khan of Maihar School of Music. She was then married to Pandit Ravi Shankar. There he established the creative peak of his career, developing a style that was respectful of tradition, yet full of innovation.
Winner of several prestigious awards like Sangeet Natak Academy award, he is the Artistic Director of the World Music Department at the Rotterdam Music Conservatory in the Netherlands. He runs Gurukul named- Brindavan, in Mumbai and Bhubhaneshwar, which boasts of disciples like Rupak Kulkarni, Rakesh Chaurasia (nephew), Vivek Sonar, Sameer Rao, Jay Gandhi, Santosh Sant and Himanshu Nanda.
He has rendered his magic of Bansuri worldwide- in concerts, in fusion, in films. He is one of the busiest and most sought-after contemporary musicians in the world today.
Read Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia Exclusive Interview with KYS.