Bismillah khan
Extract based questions
1.A barber of a family of professional musicians, who had access to the royal palace; decided to improve the tonal quality of the pungi. He chose a pipe with a natural hollow stem that was longer and broader than the pungi and made seven holes on the body of the pipe.
Questions
(i) What was a pungi?
(ii) What decision did the barber take?
(iii) Who banned the playing of pungi in the royal residence?
(iv) What name was given to the new musical instrument made by the barber?
Answers
(i) It was a musical instrument.
(ii) He decided to improve its tonal quality.
(iii) Emperor Aurangzeb banned the playing of pungi in the royal residence.
(iv) It was named `Shehnai’.
2.Soon Bismillah started accompanying his uncle, Ali Bux, to the Vishnu temple of Benaras where Bux was employed to play the shehnai. Ali Bux would play the shehnai and Bismillah would sit captivated for hours on end. Slowly, he started getting lessons in playing the instrument and would sit practising throughout the day.
Questions
(i) Who was Ali Bux and what was his profession?
(ii) Why did Bismillah Khan accompany his uncle?
(iii) How did Ali Bin attract Bismillah Khan?
(iv) How did his uncle help him in learning to play Shehnai?
Answers
(i) Ali Bux was Bismillah’s maternal uncle. He was employed to play the Shehnai in the Vishnu temple of Varanasi.
(ii) Bismillah Khan accompanied his uncle to learn from him how to play Shehnai.
(iii) Ali Bux attracted him by playing fascinating and melodious tunes of Shehnai.
(iv) His uncle started giving him lessons in playing Shehnai for practice.
3.Ustad Faiyaz Khan patted the young boy’s back and said, “Work hard and you shall make it.” With the opening of the All India Radio in Lucknow in 1938 came Bismillah’s big break
(i)Who is the ‘young boy’ here?
(ii) How old was Bismillah Khan when he participated in the Allahabad Music Conference?
(iii) Why did Ustad Faiyaz Khan pat him?
(iv) How was the opening of the All India Radio in Lucknow a big break for him?
Answers
(i) Bismillah Khan is the ‘young boy’ here.
(ii) He was only fourteen years old.
(iii) He patted him for his performance in the Allahabad Music Conference.
(iv) Bismillah was given a chance to play Shehnai on the All India Radio.
4.With the coveted award resting on his chest and his eyes glinting with rare happiness he said, “All I would like to say is: Teach your children music, this is Hindustan’s richest tradition; even the West is now coming to learn our music.”
Questions
(i) Who is ‘he’ here?
ii) Which award is being referred to?
(iii) Why does Bismillah Khan want children to learn Hindustani Music?
(iv) What quality of him is reflected in the above lines?
Answers
(i) ‘He’ is Ustad Bismillah Khan here.
(ii) The Bharat Ratna is being referred to.
(iii) Bismillah Khan wants children to learn Hindustani Music as India has a very rich tradition of music, even the West is now coming to learn this music.
(iv) He was very fond of Hindustani music.
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
Q1. Why did Aurangzeb ban the playing of the pungi?
Ans. Emperor Aurangzeb banned the playing of the pungi because he considered it as a reeded noisemaker with its loud, shrill, and unpleasant sound. He prohibited its play in the royal court.
Q2. Why did the pungi become a generic name for “reeded noisemakers”?
Ans. The pungi produced loud, unpleasant and jarring music. Because of this shrill music, Aurangzeb banned it in the royal house. As it was made from a reed and produced noisy sounds, it became a generic name for “reeded noisemakers”.
Q3. How is a ‘shehnai’ different from a pungi? Ans.Though a reeded instrument like a pungi, a shehnai differs from it in width and sound. It is made with a longer and broader stem than a pungi and produces soft, melodious sounds instead of the loud, jarring sound of a pungi.
Q4. Who revived the pungi and what shape did it take?
Ans. When Aurangzeb banned the playing of the pungi in the royal residence, a barber who belonged to a family of professional musicians revived it by taking a wider and longer hollow stem and making seven holes in it. The improved pungi produced soft and sweet sounds.
Q5. How did the ‘shehnai’ get its name?
Ans. It is believed that the barber (nai) who improved the pungi, played his instrument in the chamber of the emperor (shah). The c combination of the two words ‘shah’ and ‘nai’ formed the name ‘shehnai’.
Q6. Why was the shehnai played in temples and weddings?
Ans. The music of the shehnai was melodious and soft. It came to be believed that it was auspicious. Therefore, in the holy temples and on the happy auspicious occasions of weddings, the shehnai was played.
Q7. Where was the shehnai played traditionally? How did Bismillah Khan change it?
Ans. Traditionally, the shehnai was played in the royal court as one of the nine instruments together known as naubat. Bismillah Khan made it an independent instrument and gave its music a place among other classical instrumental music.
Q8. Where did Bismillah Khan usually sing at the age of five? How was he rewarded and by whom?
Ans. At the age of five, Bismillah Khan usually sang the Bhojpuri ‘chaita a’ in the Bihariji temple in his native town Dumraon in Bihar. At the end of the song, he earned a big laddu weighing 1.25 kg which was given by the local Maharaja as a prize.
9.What kind of family did Bismillah Khan hail from?
Ans. Bismillah Khan hailed from a family of musicians in Bihar. His grandfather Rasool Bux Khan was the shehnai player in the royal court of the king of Bhojpur. His father Paigambar Bux and many paternal and maternal uncles were also ‘shehnai vaadaks’ (players).
Q10. Who was Ali Bux? Where was he employed and what was his influence on Bismillah Khan?
Ans. Ali Bux was the maternal uncle of Bismillah Khan and may be regarded as his mentor and trainer. He was a great shehnai player and was employed to play the shehnai in the Vishnu temple of Benaras. At a very young age, Bismillah Khan started accompanying him and got lessons in playing the shehnai from him. The young boy would sit for hours listening to his uncle and later practise throughout the day.
Q11. Which places were young Bismillah Khan’s favourite haunts for practising music? Why?
Ans. The temple of Balaji and Mangala Maiya, as well as the banks of the Ganga, were young Bismillah Khan’s favourite haunts because he could practice his music there in solitude. The flowing waters of Ganga inspired him to improvise and invent raagas which were earlier considered beyond the range of the shehnai.
Q12. When and how did Bismillah Khan get his big break?
Ans. The ‘big break’ came to Bismillah Khan when in 1938 the All India Radio was started in Lucknow. Khansaab was regularly invited to play the shehnai and soon became an often-heard shehnai player on the radio.
Extract based questions
1.A barber of a family of professional musicians, who had access to the royal palace; decided to improve the tonal quality of the pungi. He chose a pipe with a natural hollow stem that was longer and broader than the pungi and made seven holes on the body of the pipe.
Questions
(i) What was a pungi?
(ii) What decision did the barber take?
(iii) Who banned the playing of pungi in the royal residence?
(iv) What name was given to the new musical instrument made by the barber?
Answers
(i) It was a musical instrument.
(ii) He decided to improve its tonal quality.
(iii) Emperor Aurangzeb banned the playing of pungi in the royal residence.
(iv) It was named `Shehnai’.
2.Soon Bismillah started accompanying his uncle, Ali Bux, to the Vishnu temple of Benaras where Bux was employed to play the shehnai. Ali Bux would play the shehnai and Bismillah would sit captivated for hours on end. Slowly, he started getting lessons in playing the instrument and would sit practising throughout the day.
Questions
(i) Who was Ali Bux and what was his profession?
(ii) Why did Bismillah Khan accompany his uncle?
(iii) How did Ali Bin attract Bismillah Khan?
(iv) How did his uncle help him in learning to play Shehnai?
Answers
(i) Ali Bux was Bismillah’s maternal uncle. He was employed to play the Shehnai in the Vishnu temple of Varanasi.
(ii) Bismillah Khan accompanied his uncle to learn from him how to play Shehnai.
(iii) Ali Bux attracted him by playing fascinating and melodious tunes of Shehnai.
(iv) His uncle started giving him lessons in playing Shehnai for practice.
3.Ustad Faiyaz Khan patted the young boy’s back and said, “Work hard and you shall make it.” With the opening of the All India Radio in Lucknow in 1938 came Bismillah’s big break
(i)Who is the ‘young boy’ here?
(ii) How old was Bismillah Khan when he participated in the Allahabad Music Conference?
(iii) Why did Ustad Faiyaz Khan pat him?
(iv) How was the opening of the All India Radio in Lucknow a big break for him?
Answers
(i) Bismillah Khan is the ‘young boy’ here.
(ii) He was only fourteen years old.
(iii) He patted him for his performance in the Allahabad Music Conference.
(iv) Bismillah was given a chance to play Shehnai on the All India Radio.
4.With the coveted award resting on his chest and his eyes glinting with rare happiness he said, “All I would like to say is: Teach your children music, this is Hindustan’s richest tradition; even the West is now coming to learn our music.”
Questions
(i) Who is ‘he’ here?
ii) Which award is being referred to?
(iii) Why does Bismillah Khan want children to learn Hindustani Music?
(iv) What quality of him is reflected in the above lines?
Answers
(i) ‘He’ is Ustad Bismillah Khan here.
(ii) The Bharat Ratna is being referred to.
(iii) Bismillah Khan wants children to learn Hindustani Music as India has a very rich tradition of music, even the West is now coming to learn this music.
(iv) He was very fond of Hindustani music.
SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
Q1. Why did Aurangzeb ban the playing of the pungi?
Ans. Emperor Aurangzeb banned the playing of the pungi because he considered it as a reeded noisemaker with its loud, shrill, and unpleasant sound. He prohibited its play in the royal court.
Q2. Why did the pungi become a generic name for “reeded noisemakers”?
Ans. The pungi produced loud, unpleasant and jarring music. Because of this shrill music, Aurangzeb banned it in the royal house. As it was made from a reed and produced noisy sounds, it became a generic name for “reeded noisemakers”.
Q3. How is a ‘shehnai’ different from a pungi? Ans.Though a reeded instrument like a pungi, a shehnai differs from it in width and sound. It is made with a longer and broader stem than a pungi and produces soft, melodious sounds instead of the loud, jarring sound of a pungi.
Q4. Who revived the pungi and what shape did it take?
Ans. When Aurangzeb banned the playing of the pungi in the royal residence, a barber who belonged to a family of professional musicians revived it by taking a wider and longer hollow stem and making seven holes in it. The improved pungi produced soft and sweet sounds.
Q5. How did the ‘shehnai’ get its name?
Ans. It is believed that the barber (nai) who improved the pungi, played his instrument in the chamber of the emperor (shah). The c combination of the two words ‘shah’ and ‘nai’ formed the name ‘shehnai’.
Q6. Why was the shehnai played in temples and weddings?
Ans. The music of the shehnai was melodious and soft. It came to be believed that it was auspicious. Therefore, in the holy temples and on the happy auspicious occasions of weddings, the shehnai was played.
Q7. Where was the shehnai played traditionally? How did Bismillah Khan change it?
Ans. Traditionally, the shehnai was played in the royal court as one of the nine instruments together known as naubat. Bismillah Khan made it an independent instrument and gave its music a place among other classical instrumental music.
Q8. Where did Bismillah Khan usually sing at the age of five? How was he rewarded and by whom?
Ans. At the age of five, Bismillah Khan usually sang the Bhojpuri ‘chaita a’ in the Bihariji temple in his native town Dumraon in Bihar. At the end of the song, he earned a big laddu weighing 1.25 kg which was given by the local Maharaja as a prize.
9.What kind of family did Bismillah Khan hail from?
Ans. Bismillah Khan hailed from a family of musicians in Bihar. His grandfather Rasool Bux Khan was the shehnai player in the royal court of the king of Bhojpur. His father Paigambar Bux and many paternal and maternal uncles were also ‘shehnai vaadaks’ (players).
Q10. Who was Ali Bux? Where was he employed and what was his influence on Bismillah Khan?
Ans. Ali Bux was the maternal uncle of Bismillah Khan and may be regarded as his mentor and trainer. He was a great shehnai player and was employed to play the shehnai in the Vishnu temple of Benaras. At a very young age, Bismillah Khan started accompanying him and got lessons in playing the shehnai from him. The young boy would sit for hours listening to his uncle and later practise throughout the day.
Q11. Which places were young Bismillah Khan’s favourite haunts for practising music? Why?
Ans. The temple of Balaji and Mangala Maiya, as well as the banks of the Ganga, were young Bismillah Khan’s favourite haunts because he could practice his music there in solitude. The flowing waters of Ganga inspired him to improvise and invent raagas which were earlier considered beyond the range of the shehnai.
Q12. When and how did Bismillah Khan get his big break?
Ans. The ‘big break’ came to Bismillah Khan when in 1938 the All India Radio was started in Lucknow. Khansaab was regularly invited to play the shehnai and soon became an often-heard shehnai player on the radio.
Thank you so much
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