Ghosh, Pannalal (1911-1960)  famous flautist, was born in a family of musicians in barisal town. His grandfather, Harakumar Ghosh, was a famous dhrupad artist and his father, Akshay Kumar Ghosh, was a famous sitar player.

Pannalal received his first music lessons from his father. He learned to play the flute at the age of fourteen. Moving to Kolkata, he worked in a cinema company. There he met the famous harmonium player, Khushi Ahmed, and started taking lessons from him. In 1938 he visited a number of foreign countries with a group named Sarai-Kala-Nrtya. After returning from abroad, he became the disciple of Girija Sankar Chakraborty. In 1947 he became the disciple of Ustad alauddin khan.

Pannalal worked as a music director at the Delhi Centre of Akash Vani. He also produced a number of gramophone records. Pannalal was a great instrumentalist and opened up new possibilities for the flute in classical music. One of his peculiarities was his use of three kinds of flute alternately for different 'Saptakas'. He could produce any human sound with his flute. The flautist, Gour Goswami, was one of his disciples. He modified a number of Indian musical instruments. He was an expert in playing 'Kheyal Anga'. Pannalal died on 20 April 1960. [Mobarak Hossain Khan]