Das, Surendralal (1892-1943) musician and orchestra organiser, was born in the village of Kattoli on the outskirts of chittagong city. He was attracted to music since childhood and became well known as both a singer and a flautist. He joined the Arya Sangeet Samiti of Chittagong in 1920 and organised the Arya Sangeet Orchestra. The orchestra, which played eastern ragas on indigenous instruments, earned considerable fame playing at the Bengal Provincial Congress session in 1922. He conducted over 70 concerts broadcast over the Kolkata station of All India Radio.

Surendralal created Jantrisangha, an orchestra group, at Kolkata Radio Station in 1930. In 1939 he joined Our Orchestra at Kolkata. He was a founder of Sangeet Vidyapith, a music academy in Chittagong. His students include Dakshinamohan Thakur, Priyalal Dasgupta and Priyadaranjan Sengupta.

Surendralal was a nationalist and participated in the swadeshi movement. During the famine he came to Chittagong to render his services to the affected people and died there. [Mobarak Hussain Khan]