Sunil Bose , 1916 - 2007

Born in Chamba State, Himachal Pradesh, in 1916, Shri Sunil Bose, son of Late Dr. A. B. Bose, Chief Medical Officer of the State, was a very distinguished musician and music educator. After his initial education, he joined a Textile Engineering Course in Ahmedabad. In 1936 he joined the Marris College of Music, Lucknow, and completed his ‘Bachelor of Music’ degree.

He was under the direct tutelage of Ustad Faiyaz Khan, Dr. S. N. Ratanjankar, Shri D. T. Joshi, Ustad Ata Hussain Khan and others and drew inspiration from many renowned musicians of various gharanas. The harvest of such illustrious associations combining with his rich talim, launched him as a successful performer at an early age.

An ‘A’ Class Vocalist of All India Radio, he had featured several times in the National Programmes. He had taken part in various music conferences in different parts of India, and for 10 years, from 1959, he served as the Head of Department (Classical Music), of the Music Teachers’ Training College, Calcutta, Government of West Bengal.

Despite his fame, he was an extremely amiable person. To keep up the traditional teaching and proper guidance of the scholars, he served as a resident expert at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy since February 1978. The recipient of the prestigious ITC Award for the year 2000, during his tenure he groomed musicians like Vidushi Shubhra Guha, Shri Jainul Abedin and many others. A senior guru of the Academy keeping the traditional values of the Agra gharana alive, he retired in April 2004. Around 9 p.m. on Saturday, February 10, 2007, he succumbed to a severe attack of pneumonia, leaving behind his grieving family and a host of students and admirers.

He will be particularly missed at ITC SRA, where only less than a fortnight ago, he was here in our midst, a welcome presence, to participate in the Homecoming Festival, a grand reunion of our old scholars.

Moments with Sri Sunil Bose