SSC
Ustad Sultan Khan was a famous player of which instrument?
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Answer: Option D — Sarangi
Detailed Solution
Explanation
Ustad Sultan Khan (1940-2011) was one of the greatest sarangi players of India. He was also a fine singer, and he became famous with general audiences for his songs in Hindi films and popular music.
Sultan Khan was born in Sikar, Rajasthan, into a family of sarangi players. He learnt the sarangi from his father, Ustad Gulab Khan, and from his grandfather, and gave his first public performance at the age of 11. He worked for many years as a staff artist at All India Radio and became a sought-after accompanist for the greatest singers of Hindustani music, such as Ustad Amir Khan, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Lata Mangeshkar. He also toured with Pandit Ravi Shankar and played with George Harrison of the Beatles. He was known for the deep, emotional, voice-like quality of his sarangi playing. As a singer, he became popular with the song "Piya Basanti" (2000), which he sang with K.S. Chithra and which won awards for its music video. He also sang film songs such as "Albela Sajan" in "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" (1999) He received the Padma Bhushan in 2010.
The sarangi is a bowed string instrument of Hindustani music, carved from a single block of wood. It has three main gut strings and many sympathetic strings, and it is played upright, held in the lap. Its sound is often compared to the human voice, and its name is sometimes explained as "sau rangi" (a hundred colours). Other famous sarangi players include Pandit Ram Narayan, Ustad Sabri Khan, Ustad Shakoor Khan and Murad Ali.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Sarod is linked with Amjad Ali Khan and Ali Akbar Khan.
- ✗Shehnai is linked with Bismillah Khan.
- ✗Santoor is linked with Shivkumar Sharma.
💡 Exam tip
Link Ustad Sultan Khan with the sarangi, Sikar (Rajasthan) and the song "Piya Basanti". Pandit Ram Narayan is the other great sarangi player asked about in exams.💬 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.