Atulprasad Senator was born in a Vaidya-Brahmin family hailing from the village Magor in South Bikrampur, Faridpur. He was born in his maternal uncle"s house in Dhaka (as was the custom at that time). His father died when he was a toddler.
Next, he studied at Presidency College in Kolkata, and then went to London to study law.
He is principally remembered as a musician and composer. The sufferings he experienced in his life found their ways into his lyrics. And this has made his songs full of pathos.
Atulprasad is credited with introducing the Thumri style in Bengali music
He also pioneered Ghazals in Bengali, composing about 6 or 7 ghazals. In 1890, Atulprasad passed the Entrance examination.
After successfully becoming a lawyer, he returned to Bengal, and opened up a law practice in Rangpur and Kolkata. Later he moved to Lucknow, where he became the president of the Oudh Bar Association and the Oudh Bar Council.
Atulprasad practised law in Lucknow,from 1902 to 1934.
Lucknow played an important role in Atulprasad"s Musical creation and experiments. At this time, he used to hold musical soirees almost every evening at his residence where maestros like Ahammad Khalif Khan, Chhotey Munne Khan, Barkat Ali Khan and Abdul Karim used to sing. Engrossed in such musical sessions, he used to forget to attend his clients.
He wrote most of his songs during his residence in Lucknow.
He was able to internalise the Hindustani rendition style well since he lived almost half his life in northern India. Such exposure let Atulprasad to introduce the raga-based Bangla songs specially the thungri in Bangla music
The thungri style was originally the creation of the noted musician, Nawab Wajed Ali Shah of Lucknow. Atulprasad adapted the Hindustani style to fit Bangla songs, without distorting their tune and measure.
He added a new dimension to Bangla songs and opened the way for further experiments.
Atulprasad used fast-paced Hindustani tunes like kheyal, thungri and dadra skilfully. Although some have criticised his attempt to blend Hindustani tunes with Bangla songs, he has been able to add an element of spontaneity on occasions when the tune has transcended the lyrics. His songs based on thungri and dadra have considerable artistic merit.
Examples of such songs are ki ar chahiba balo (What more shall I ask for?/ Bhairabi/tap kheyal), ogo nithur daradi (O the merciless/ mixed Ashabari-dadra/tap thungri), yaba na yaba na ghare (I won"t go home/ thungri), et cetera
Atulprasad died in Lucknow on 26 August 1934.
His songs centred on three broad subjectspatriotism, devotion and love.
