Bismillah Khan of Varanasi, honoured with the Bharat Ratna, was a master of which instrument?
- A.Shehnai
- B.Sarangi
- C.Sitar
- D.Pakhawaj
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is A, the shehnai. Ustad Bismillah Khan of Varanasi took the shehnai, until then an instrument of weddings and temple gateways, on to the concert platform and made it a solo classical instrument. He played at the Red Fort on the first Independence Day, was closely tied to the Vishwanath temple and the city of Varanasi, and was awarded the Bharat Ratna.
Option B, the sarangi, is the bowed accompaniment of thumri and khayal and is associated with other musicians altogether. Option C, the sitar, is linked in Uttar Pradesh with the Etawah or Imdadkhani gharana of Imdad Khan and Vilayat Khan, so it is a genuine state tradition but the wrong instrument here. Option D, the pakhawaj, is the barrel drum of dhrupad. Only the shehnai is identified with Bismillah Khan, and the pairing is one of the commonest one-line facts in state papers.
Read the full article: Folk Music, Dance and Theatre of Uttar Pradesh: Kathak to Nautanki
Practice Questions
View allWhich gharana of Kathak developed in the court of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh?
- A.Jaipur gharana
- B.Lucknow gharana
- C.Banaras gharana
- D.Raigarh gharana
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The Lucknow gharana of Kathak took shape in the court of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh, who was himself a dancer and a composer of thumris under the pen name Akhtarpiya.
Read the full explanation →Which instrument dominates a Nautanki performance?
- A.Tabla
- B.Nagada or nakkara
- C.Sarangi
- D.Pakhawaj
Show answer
Nautanki is played on an open platform to an audience of hundreds, often through the whole night, so it needs an instrument that carries.
Read the full explanation →The Charkula dance belongs to which region of Uttar Pradesh?
- A.Bundelkhand
- B.Braj
- C.Purvanchal
- D.Rohilkhand
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Charkula is danced in the Braj country around Mathura, where a woman balances a tiered wooden pyramid hung with rows of lighted earthen lamps, traditionally counted as one hundred and eight, on her head and moves to Rasiya songs of Krishna.
Read the full explanation →Ramlila, the traditional performance of the Ramayana, was placed by UNESCO on which list?
- A.World Heritage List
- B.Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
- C.Memory of the World Register
- D.List of Creative Cities
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Ramlila is a living performance tradition rather than a building or a document, so it was inscribed in 2008 on the list that UNESCO maintains for intangible heritage, the same list that carries Kutiyattam, Vedic chanting and Ramman from India.
Read the full explanation →Which pair of towns are the two main centres and styles of Nautanki?
- A.Hathras and Kanpur
- B.Mathura and Agra
- C.Varanasi and Jaunpur
- D.Lucknow and Faizabad
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Nautanki grew into two recognised styles, the Hathras style in which the sung music and the verse metres dominate and the audience comes for the singing, and the Kanpur style in which dialogue, acting and stagecraft carry more of the play.
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