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Chapter – 2 The Sound Of Music
Part II - The Shehnai of Bismillah Khan
II Answer these questions in 30–40 words.
3. Where was the shehnai played traditionally? How did Bismillah Khan change this?
4. When and how did Bismillah Khan get his big break?
5. Where did Bismillah Khan play the shehnai on 15 August 1947? Why was the event historic?
6. Why did Bismillah Khan refuse to start a shehnai school in the U.S.A.? 7. Find at least two instances in the text which tell you that Bismillah Khan loves India and Banaras.

Dear Student,  The solutions to your Q3 and Q4. have been provided below:  3. The shehnai was traditionally played in royal courts, temples and weddings. Ustaad Bismillah khan changed the tradition by bringing this instrument onto the classical stage.  4. Bismillah Khan got his big break in 1938 with the opening of the All India Radio in Lucknow. He started playing the shehnai on radio and soon became quite popular.  For remaining queries we request you to post them in separate threads to have rapid assistance from our experts.  Regards

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3) Shehnai traditionally was played in North Indian wedding and in Hindu Temples. It was also played in Royal Courts in old times.
Bismillah Khan is credited for bringing shehnai on the classical stage. He used Shehnai for music in a film "Gunj Uthi Shehnai" and in a song "Dil ka Khilona hai toot Gaya"

4) In 1938, with the opening of the All India Radio in Lucknow Bismillah's big break came. He became an often heard Shehnai player on Radio

5) He played the Shehnai from the Red Fort on 15 August 1947. The even became historic as he was the first Indian to greet nation with his Shehnai. The then Prime ministerJawaharlal Nehru was one of his listener.

6) He refused to go start a school in the USA because he said that real Shehnai can be played on the land of the Holy Ganga. He said he will miss the Ganga if he opens a school in the USA.

7) Two instances which shows he loved India and Banaras are :-

(i) He said that whenever he is in a foreign country, he keep yearning to see Hindustan. While in Mumbai, he thought only of Benaras.

(ii) When he got the Bharat Ratna he said that All he wanted to say was to teach their children music, it was Hindustan's richest tradition; even the west is coming to learn our tradition.
 
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Dear student,

1. Aurangzeb banned the playing of musical instrument pungi because it had a shrill, unpleasant sound.
2. Shehnai has a better tonal quality than pungi. It is a natural hollow stem pipe with holes on its body and is longer and broader than the pungi. Shehnai is, in a way, an improvement upon the pungi.
3. The shehnai was traditionally played in royal courts, temples and weddings. Ustaad Bismillah khan, an undisputed monarch of shehnai brought this instrument onto the classical stage.
4. Bismillah khan got his big break in 1938. The All India Radio opened in Lucknow and Bismillah khan played shehnai on radio. He soon became an often heard player on radio. He became the first Indian to greet the nation with his shehnai from the Red Fort on 15 August, 1947.
5. On 15 August 1947, Bismillah Khan played the Raag Kaafi on his shehnai from the Red Fort. The event was historical because it was on the occasion of India's Independence from British Rule.
6. Bismillah Khan refused one of his student's request to start a shehnai school in the U.S.A. because he would not live away from Hindustan, specifically, from Benaras, the River Ganga and Dumraon.

Regards.
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