ABSTRACT
Hanuman Prasad Mishra is the doyen of Banaras sarangi players and of the Benares Gharana represented by his two sons, the world-renowned singers Rajan and Sajan Misra. First of all, he has long carried on the heritage of his famed brother, Gopal Misra, who until his death in 1972 had established a distinct style for the instrument suited to rhythmic articulation in the archaic genre of dhrupad. Second, he has trained his two sons to become the premier vocal duo of their generation under the name of Rajan Sajan Misra. Most important for the sarangi, Hanuman Prasad Misra has been the chosen guru for a number of foreign students studying his instrument. After initial training by his father, Suraj Sahayji, he became the disciple of his father’s elder brother, the revered Bade (Elder) Ramdasji, a singer who imparted a strong vocal foundation to Hanuman’s training on the sarangi.
