Who is credited with taking the shehnai from the marriage mandap to the concert hall?

Explanation

Before Bismillah Khan, the shehnai was mainly played at weddings, temples, processions and other auspicious occasions, and it was regarded as a ceremonial or folk instrument rather than a concert instrument of classical music. Bismillah Khan raised it to the status of a classical instrument and made it one of the most loved sounds of Indian music.

The shehnai is a double-reed wind instrument, similar to the oboe. It has a wooden tube that widens into a metal bell at the end, with finger holes along the tube. Because its sound is considered auspicious, it is often called the "mangal vadya" (auspicious instrument) and is traditionally played at the start of weddings and other ceremonies. It is very difficult to play classical music on the shehnai, because the player must control the breath and the reed very precisely to produce the slides (meends) and ornaments of Hindustani ragas. Bismillah Khan developed an extraordinary technique and a deeply emotional style, and he performed long classical recitals of ragas, thumris, chaitis and kajaris on the shehnai, in concert halls across India and the world. He also played the shehnai in films, such as the Kannada film "Sanaadi Appanna" (1977) and the Hindi film "Goonj Uthi Shehnai" (1959). He played at the Red Fort on 15 August 1947 and on the first Republic Day in 1950. An auditorium in Tehran, Iran, has been named after him. He received the Bharat Ratna in 2001.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Ustad Ali Ahmad Hussain Khan was another well-known shehnai player, of the Banaras tradition, but he is not credited with this achievement.
• ✗Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia is a famous player of the bansuri (bamboo flute).
• ✗Ustad Allauddin Khan was a great sarod player and teacher of Maihar.