There are two main types; bansuri and venu. The bansuri is used in the North Indian system. It typically has six holes, however there has been a tendency in recent years to use seven holes for added flexibility and correctness of pitch in the higher registers. It was previously associated only with folk music, but today it is found in Hindustani classical, filmi, and numerous other genre. Venu is the south Indian flute and is used in the Carnatic system. It typically has eight holes. The venu is very popular in all south Indian styles.

The flute has special significance in India because of its association with Lord Krishna. Numerous common names reflect these epitaphs; Venugopal, Bansilal, Murali, Muralidha, etc.


Parts of the Bansuri


We will now take a closer look at the north Indian Bansuri. It is always difficult to talk about the names for the various parts of the instrument because India is a land of many languages and dialects; therefore the following terms should be considered as representative but not universal.

Dandi

- The dandi is the body of the bansuri. Bansuris may be fashioned from a variety of materials, but reeds, canes and bamboo are the most common. Ideally they should be constructed so that they taper towards the embouchure (mouth hole or mukharandra). They are therefore larger at the open end. This arrangement gives an extend range.

Mukha Randhra

This is the embouchure, or the blowing hole. professional quality bansuris in India are invariably of the transverse variety. However, there are also a number of fipple flutes which are also available. These are sometimes found among folk musicians and they are frequently given to children as toys. The transverse variety yields much better control by allowing blowing techniques to bend the notes to the desired pitches.

Swar Randhra

These are the finger holes. They are the holes that are used to play the melodies. For a 7-hole flute as shown in the side picture, the musical intervals are: half-step, whole-step, whole-step, half-step, whole-step, whole-step, whole-step. (Please note that these are approximations; the use of equal-temperament is not to be construed from this discussion.) The 7th hole (closest to the open end) is optional. When it is absent, the 6-hole flutes are tuned to: whole-step, whole-step, half-step, whole-step, whole-step, whole-step.

This 7th hole deserves special mention. Traditional north Indian folk flutes generally do not have it. The obvious advantage is that the presence of this hole extends the range of the instrument by one note. However there is a more important and not quite so obvious advantage. Its presence gives the bansuri a more accurate pitch when overblown to produce the higher octaves.

Garbha Randhra

This is the opening of the bansuri. It should remain unoccluded at all times

Rassi

The body of the bansuri tends to crack. This is simply one of the undesirable qualities of bamboo and reed. This cracking may be reduced or eliminated by tightly binding the body with twine. This is known as rassi. One trick used by craftsmen to assure an even and reproducible tension is to tie a fixed weight to the end of the string and slowly turn the body of the bansuri to wrap the twine around it.



MAIHAR GHARANA : -


While most Sitariyas and Sarodiyas in the different Gharanas in the realm of Hindustani instrumental music try to link their lineage with the Senia tradition for reasons of pride, the emergence of two great houses (Gharanas) of instrumental music, namely Imadkhani Gharana and the Gharana of Allauddin Khan i.e the Maihar Gharana (as Allauddin Khan was a court musician of the erst-while Maihar state) can claim to be two distinctive Gharanas that have played a vital role in enriching and shaping the present mode of instrumental music. Ustad Allauddin Khan in particular may be credited for his specific contributions as his appearance in the music arena changed the scene of music concerts where prior to him and his fellow disciples, only the vocalists dominated. The Maihar Gharana founded by Ustad Allauddin Khan is characterised by changes and innovations made by him in the art of instrumental music. He made an exception of playing dara-dara in sarod, while other musicians were in the habit of playing diri-diri. Ustad Hafiz Khan also acted accordingly, but infact he played on mixed dara -dara. Pure dara-dara and rada-rada was an innovation of Ustad Allauddin Khan. Musicians of the medieval period and those thereafter had the specialised knowledge of a particular branch of music. But Allauddin Khan was an exception to this. He modified the system and made a balanced combination of different aspects of music and the credit for the implementation and popularisation of his achievement goes to his son and son-in- law, Ali Akbar Khan and Pandit Ravi Shankar respectively.

With the co-operation of the Maihar Durbar, the state party that used to be sponsored by Ustad Allauddin Khan came to be known as the "Maihar Band' which consisted of eighteen artistes headed by Ustad Allauddin Khan himself. Never before had chaste classical Hindustani music been introduced in orchestra and Allauddin Khan was the first to implement the same with grand success. The 'Maihar Band' was so popular that it was recorded by HMV.

Alauddin Khan was a brilliant performer on the sarod and the violin and was a teacher of oceanic depth. He invented ragas like Madan Manjri, Subhavati, Dhabalasri, hemant-Bhairav, Bhuvaneshwari,adhavgiri, Hemant,Manj- Khamaj and hem-Bihag. Although he created such ragas he himself preferred to play the old established ragas. 'Baba' as he was affectionately called initiated another pattern of Masitkhaazkhani gats. He also initiated another pattern in slow composition and named it the Wazirkhani gat after his guru Ustad Wazir Khan. While playing, his system of vistar was vilambit, madhya vilambit madhya drut and ati-drut.

He also brought changes in the structure and size of the sarod. Originally the sarod had only five main strings along with two chikaris and the tarab strings were not more than nine. On the lower side he inserted four strings and on the upper side five, alongwith two chikaris and increased the terabs from nine to fifteen He also added one more string for enhancing the range of bass notes and this string is tuned in either ati mandra pancham or ati mandra madhyam according to the scale of the raga. Thus the quality and the potential of the sarod have improved. He has also invented two musical instruments namely Chandra-sarang and Nal-tarang.

His innovations and contributions to the sphere of instrumental music have made a deep impact on posterity.


Seni Gharanas :

To complete our story we need to establish a most important link, namely the connection between the great Sarode players of the last generation and the Seni Gharana. For this let us go back to Emperor Akbar's court in the 16th century. The brightest sun in Akbar's court was Tansen (1520-1589), a musical genius from Gwalior whom the Emperor had brought and installed as one of the Nine Jewels of his court. Tansen composed many new Ragas, such as Miya-ki-Malhar, Darbari Kanhra and Miya-ki-Todi, and laid down the foundations of North Indian classical music through 300 Dhrupad compositions. Although Akbar had a policy to convert talented people to Islam his reverence for Tansen was such that he never forced him to convert, but tactfully gave him the title Miya Tansen. Tansen had a Hindu wife as well as a Muslim wife, called Mehrunissa. From the latter he got a son Bilas Khan (composer of the Raga Bilaskhani Todi) and from the Hindu wife he had three children Tan-Taranga, Suratsen and Saraswati Devi.


Suratsen founded the Jaipur Sitar Gharana. Saraswati was a famous Dhrupad singer who married Raja Misar Singh, a noted Beenkar (Veena player) of Rajasthan. Misar Singh eventually became a state musician in Akbar's court and was converted to Islam and renamed Naubat Khan. The descendants of Saraswati and Misar Singh were Binkars as well Dhrupadiyas and they continued and developed the traditions of instrumental (in particular Veena, Sitar) music as well as vocal music. They established what is now known as the Seni Beenkar Gharana, the most important musical family in North Indian music (see attached chart). Although they officially had Muslim names, they also had dual Hindu names; thus Wazir Khan, for example was also called Chhatrapal Singh and Dabir Khan was also Dayal Singh. These descendants and disciples of Saraswati and Misar Singh include Niyamat Khan (vocalist, also known as Sadarang in many Khayal compositions), Amritsen (Jaipur Sitar Gharana, 1814-1894) , Omrao Khan (Vina, Surbahar, Sarode), Gholam Mohammed Khan (Lucknow Sitar Gharana), Bahadur Hussain Khan (inventor of Tarana) and Ustad Wazir Khan. The descendants of Bilas Khan, Tansen's son were Rababiyas and Dhrupadiyas and include Jafar Khan the inventor of the Sursringar (see the chart depicting the Seni Gharana). These two branches constitute the Seni Gharana. Ustad Wazir Khan was a brilliant teacher, performer and composer and the leader of the Seni Gharana in the last century. He was a Beenkar (Veena player) and Dhrupadiya. His family line could be traced back directly to Tansen and his musical knowledge included many of Tansen's original Dhrupad compositions. Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan was one of his disciples.


Perhaps the most important occurrence in the history of Sarode playing is the fact that the foremost Sarodiya of the last generation, Allauddin Khan came to be a disciple of Wazir Khan. Thus the full power and accumulated musical knowledge of the Seni Gharana was incorporated into the Sarode art of the genius that was Allauddin Khan. The result was that a style of Sarode playing developed in which the vocal traditions of Dhrupad and Khayal and the instrumental traditions of Veena (slides and glides) and Rabab (rhythmic, staccato and plucked) came to be blended beautifully and aesthetically into this one majestic instrument. This is why today's Sarode playing has such a wide dynamic range from the tenderest Meends to thunderous Jhalas and lightning speed Taans (musical sentences).

Ustad Baba Allauddin Khan (1862-1972):

As we know, Baba Alauddin Khan is a legendary figure in Indian music. He was born in Tripura, East Bengal and from a very young age developed a thirst for music and musical knowledge that eventually led to one of the most incredible musical journeys of this century. He mastered many instruments including Tabla, Violin, Sursringar and Surbahar but finally turned to the Sarode and became a student of the Sarode wizard Ahmed Ali Khan. After six years of living with Ahmed Ali, Baba had learnt everything that Ahmed Ali had to offer and Baba decided to seek training from Ahmed Ali's Guru the great Wazir Khan of Rampur, scion of the Seni Beenkar Gharana. Baba had to confront many difficulties in becoming Wazir Khan's disciple, but eventually Wazir Khan opened up his treasure house of musical compositions and taught Baba for 12 years after his eldest son, who was being trained to succeed him, died suddenly. It is remarkable that Baba, although an outsider to the Sarode as well as the Seni Gharanas in terms of family lineage, became the most important figure in North Indian music in this century because of his sheer talent, determination and relentless pursuit of his goal of attaining perfection in music. Baba Allauddin lived only to serve the cause of music. He was a lifelong devotee of Goddess Kali and later as a court musician in Maihar worshipped Sharda Devi, also known as Maihar Devi.


He avoided fame and wealth, pursued music as a path to spiritual salvation and offered his creations at the feet of Sharda Devi, in order to obtain her blessings and attain Nirvana through musical Sadhana. In later years Baba's salary was paid from the earnings of the Sharda temple. He was regarded throughout India as a musical saint and many students journeyed to Maihar to learn from him. He himself remained a student of music till the age of 70 completely mastering the Dhrupad and instrumental compositions of the Seni Gharana and adding innumerable new compositions and many new Ragas, such as Hemant, Shobhavati and Durgeshwari. His eventual contributions are so outstanding that today this Gharana is known as the Seni Baba Allauddin Gharana.

Baba openly and generously transferred the vast wealth of his musical knowledge to a large number of disciples. Of these the most famous are his son the supreme Sarodiya Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and the Sitar Maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar. The dazzling virtuosity, musical depth and brilliance of these two musicians and their extensive touring over the last 40 years have exposed audiences all over the world to the treasures of the Seni Gharana, the art and magic of Sitar and Sarode, and the exquisite beauty, creativity and sophistication of North Indian classical music. With such a fantastic heritage the future of instrumental music and the Sarode in particular is bright indeed.