Pandit S. Ballesh is a well-known player of which instrument?

Explanation

Pandit S. Ballesh Bhajantri is a well-known shehnai player from Karnataka. He belongs to a family of traditional shehnai players and is known for his performances in Hindustani classical music, devotional music and film music.

• Ballesh comes from the Bhajantri community, a community of traditional musicians in Karnataka who have played wind instruments and drums at temples and weddings for generations. He learnt the shehnai from his father and later became a disciple of the great shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan. He has performed in concerts and festivals in India and abroad, and he is also known for playing the shehnai in films and for collaborating with musicians of other traditions. His sons, including Krishna Ballesh, also play the shehnai and often perform with him.

The shehnai is a double-reed wind instrument of North India. It has a wooden tube that widens at the end into a metal bell, finger holes, and a double reed through which the player blows. Playing it requires great breath control. It is regarded as an auspicious instrument (mangal vadya) and is traditionally played at weddings, temples and festivals. In the Indian classification of instruments, it is a sushira vadya (wind instrument).

Ustad Bismillah Khan (1916-2006) of Varanasi made the shehnai a classical concert instrument. He played at the Red Fort on Independence Day in 1947 and received the Bharat Ratna in 2001. Other famous shehnai players include Ali Ahmad Hussain Khan, Pandit Anant Lal, Pandit Daya Shankar and Bageshwari Qamar. The South Indian counterpart of the shehnai is the nadaswaram.

Karnataka has a strong tradition of Hindustani music, especially in the northern districts, and it has produced great musicians such as Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubai Hangal and Mallikarjun Mansur.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Flute is linked with Hariprasad Chaurasia.
• ✗Sarangi is linked with Ram Narayan.
• ✗Tabla is linked with Zakir Hussain.