Pandit Ram Narayan, the Hindustani classical musician, was associated with which instrument?

Explanation

Pandit Ram Narayan (1927-2024) was the musician who made the sarangi a solo concert instrument of Hindustani classical music. Before him, the sarangi was used mainly to accompany singers and dancers. Note that one of the items in the source book wrongly links Ram Narayan with the violin. He played the sarangi.

Ram Narayan was born in Amber, near Udaipur, Rajasthan, into a family of musicians. He learnt the sarangi as a child and later trained under several masters, including Pandit Udai Lal and Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan. He began his career as an accompanist on All India Radio in Lahore and later worked in Hindi films in Mumbai, where he played the sarangi in many film songs. In the 1950s, he decided to become a solo performer. This was a bold decision, because the sarangi was then associated with courtesans and was not respected as a solo instrument. Through his skill, dedication and beautiful playing, he showed that the sarangi could express ragas with great depth and emotion, close to the human voice. He gave his first solo concert in 1956 and toured the world, performing in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. His daughter, Aruna Narayan, is also a sarangi player, and his son, Brij Narayan, is a sarod player. He received the Padma Shri (1976), the Padma Bhushan (1991) and the Padma Vibhushan (2005). He died in Mumbai on 9 November 2024.

The sarangi is a bowed string instrument, carved from a single block of wood, with three main gut strings and many sympathetic strings. It is played upright, held in the lap, and bowed. Its sound is often compared to the human voice.

Why not the other options?

Violin is linked with players such as N. Rajam and L. Subramaniam.

Sitar is linked with players such as Ravi Shankar and Vilayat Khan.

Santoor is linked with players such as Shivkumar Sharma.