Railway
Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Tarun Bhattacharya and Bhajan Sopori are exponents of which instrument?
Answer (Detailed Solution Below)View answer ▾Hide ▴
Answer: Option D — Santoor
Detailed Solution
Explanation
Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Pandit Tarun Bhattacharya and Pandit Bhajan Sopori are among the most famous santoor players of India. The santoor is a hammered string instrument from Kashmir, which these musicians brought to the classical concert stage.
The santoor is a trapezoid-shaped wooden box with many strings stretched across it, arranged in groups over small wooden bridges. It is played by striking the strings with two light, curved wooden mallets (mezrabs), held between the fingers. It traditionally has about 100 strings, which is why it is linked with the ancient "shatatantri veena" (veena of a hundred strings) mentioned in old texts. In Kashmir, the santoor was traditionally used to accompany Sufiana Kalam, the devotional music of the Sufis.
Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (1938-2022) was born in Jammu. He is credited with making the santoor a classical instrument. He adapted the instrument by changing the number and arrangement of its strings and developed a technique to play the slow, flowing alap on it. He recorded the famous album "Call of the Valley" (1967) with Hariprasad Chaurasia and Brij Bhushan Kabra, and he composed music for Hindi films with Hariprasad Chaurasia as the duo "Shiv-Hari", for films such as "Silsila" (1981) and "Chandni" (1989). He received the Padma Shri (1991) and the Padma Vibhushan (2001). His son, Rahul Sharma, is also a santoor player.
Pandit Bhajan Sopori (1948-2022) belonged to the Sufiana gharana of Kashmir, a family that has played the santoor for many generations. He was known as the "Saint of the Santoor" and received the Padma Shri (2004). Pandit Tarun Bhattacharya, from Kolkata, is a disciple of Ravi Shankar and is known for his own innovations in the instrument.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Sarod is linked with Amjad Ali Khan and Ali Akbar Khan.
- ✗Sarangi is linked with Ram Narayan and Sultan Khan.
- ✗Sitar is linked with Ravi Shankar and Vilayat Khan.
💡 Exam tip
Link the santoor with Kashmir, the "shatatantri veena", Shivkumar Sharma, Bhajan Sopori (Sufiana gharana) and Tarun Bhattacharya.💬 Discussions on this question
Ask a doubt ›Still stuck on this question? Ask our faculty and fellow students — answers appear here.
Ask a doubtMore Music & Musical Instruments Questions
View all ›- Q1.In which year was the Buddhist chanting of Ladakh inscribed on UNESCO's list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity?
- Q2.In which year was the Tradition of Vedic Chanting inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity?
- Q3.Which is the main percussion instrument used in the performance of Mohiniyattam?
- Q4.Who is known as the 'Father of Carnatic Music'?
- Q5.Before joining Akbar's court, Tansen served as a court musician to which ruler?
More General Knowledge Questions
- Q1.The techniques of Rasa and Bhava used in Indian classical dance trace their origin to which ancient text?Indian Dance Forms
- Q2.Lavani, Powada, Koli, Waghya Murali and Dhangari Gaja are folk dances of which state?Indian Dance Forms
- Q3.The one-act play associated with the Sattriya tradition of Assam is called:Indian Dance Forms
- Q4.Which dance form of Goa is known as the 'Warrior Dance'?Indian Dance Forms
- Q5.Manipuri dance is based on the Rasleela themes of:Indian Dance Forms
Music & Musical Instruments — Preparation
This question tests your understanding of Music & Musical Instruments, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.
This topic covers Indian classical music, its two main traditions (Hindustani and Carnatic), gharanas, ragas and talas, folk music styles, and the musical instruments of India along with the artists who are famous for playing them. It also includes the four classes of instruments: string (tata), wind (sushira), percussion (avanaddha) and solid (ghana). Exam questions usually pair an instrument with its maestro, such as the sitar with Pandit Ravi Shankar, the shehnai with Ustad Bismillah Khan or the santoor with Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. Other common questions ask about the origin of a gharana, the instrument a folk style uses, or the class an instrument belongs to. Making a two-column list of instruments and artists is the quickest way to revise. Practise the music and musical instruments questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.