SSC
Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan of the Bangash gharana was a famous player of which instrument?
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Answer: Option C — Sarod
Detailed Solution
Explanation
Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan (1888-1972) was one of the greatest sarod players of the 20th century. He belonged to the Senia-Bangash gharana, a family of Afghan origin credited with developing the sarod from the Afghan rabab, and he was the father and guru of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan.
Hafiz Ali Khan was born in Gwalior, into a family of sarod players. His father, Nanne Khan, was a court musician of Gwalior, and Hafiz Ali Khan learnt the sarod from him. He also studied with masters of the Senia tradition, the musical lineage of Tansen, especially Wazir Khan of Rampur, from whom he learnt dhrupad compositions. He became the court musician of the Maharaja of Gwalior. He was famous for his sweet, lyrical and melodious style of playing, and for his skill in the "thumri ang", the light and expressive style of playing. His recordings made him famous across India. He received the Padma Bhushan in 1960 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.
His son, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, born in 1945, became one of the most famous sarod players in the world, and he founded the Sarod Ghar, a museum of musical instruments, in the family's ancestral home in Gwalior. Amjad Ali Khan's sons, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Bangash, continue the family tradition.
The sarod is a fretless, plucked string instrument of Hindustani music, with a wooden body covered with goatskin and a metal fingerboard. It is played with a plectrum made of coconut shell. The other great tradition of sarod playing is the Maihar gharana, founded by Allauddin Khan, whose son Ali Akbar Khan was another great sarod player.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Sitar is linked with Ravi Shankar and Vilayat Khan.
- ✗Sarangi is linked with Ram Narayan.
- ✗Shehnai is linked with Bismillah Khan.
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Link Hafiz Ali Khan with the sarod, the Bangash gharana, Gwalior and his son Amjad Ali Khan.💬 Discussions on this question
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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.