Articles

Pt. Balak Ram Sharma (1663) Migrated from Pilkhuwa to Sadar, Meerut, UP, was a literary person and profound scholar, musician, astrologer and devotee to Lord Shiva. At those time, GT Road was the soft target, moreover, Aurangzeb was after the genocide of Brahmins, most of the family member migrated to hills of Karan-Prayag now in chamoli, Uttarakhand, India, whereas, Balak Ram Ji decide to leave Pilkhuwa, as to protect life of family members was on his top priority, by the Grace of Almighty he had only one son, and he named him as Gori Shankar.

Pt.Gori Shankar Sharma (1690) learned the traditional Knowledge of Astrology, Ritual performance, Veda Path and Classical Music from his father Pt. Balak Ram Sharma. Life was full of happiness and security. He enjoyed the honor given by beloved people. He had two sons SadaSukh and NainSukh. Both of them were well versed in ritual performance, astrology, Veda path. SadaSukh left the Meerut in search of name and fame, whereas, younger Nainsukh decided to keep the responsibility and remain with the family.

Pt. Nainsukh Sharma (1716) received all the heritage manuscripts and knowledge from his father, and passed that to his sons Patram and Hetram.

Pt. HETRAM Sharma (1742) maintained the tradition, and happily received the knowledge from his father. He was a devotee Lord Krishna, and was the first one to use Bansuri for classical music. He had only one son Bal Kishan.

Pt. Bal Kishan Sharma (1762) was a devotee of Lord Shiva, and gave the heritage to his son Ratiram and Shankar Lal.

Pt. Shankar Lal Sharma (1790) was a devotee of Lord Krishna, and gave the heritage to his son Ganga Kishan Sharma.

Pt. Ganga Kishan Sharma (1813) was a godly person, and a saint by nature, He had four sons Hazari Prasad, Moonga, Hari Prasad, Ram Prasad, He left singing and ritual performance after the martyr of two sons (Hazari and Moonga) during the the mutiny of 1857. He was often tortured by British official because of involvement of his sons in first freedom movement of India. His son Hari Prasad remain unmarried and served the nation and stayed at ancestral home of Sadar, Meerut. To safeguard the life of remaining family members Ganga Kishan Ji choose to hide and thus, migrated to the settlement of his followers belonging to Marshall Gurjar Community, at village Jitolla and started farming for livelihood too.

Pt. Ram Prasad Sharma (1840) had to look after the business, and involvement in freedom fighting movement took an halt. He practiced Ritual performance, Veda -recital, Ayurveda and Astrology along with farming.

Pt. Mathura Prasad(1865) was a great personality, he was just like a walking deity on earth, he enjoyed full wealth earned by four brothers, He had only a single son no daughter. He was the one who forced Ganga Kishan to sing songs again, Pt. Ganga Kishan Sharma delivered all knowledge to Grand Son Mathura Prasad Happily. He brought the first Gramophone in his village, every evening villagers use to gather around him to listen his songs as well as Gramophone too.

Pt. Mussaddi Lal Sharma(1910) was a hard working person, he was good at accounts, and he did a lot to his family, by running success full business of Brick Manufacturing in developing India. He enjoyed a great personality, he was just like a walking deity on earth with huge built up, he had four sons Padam Sen, Om Prakash(Bhagat Ji), Jai Prakash, Ved Prakash.

Pt. Jai Prakash Sharma (1949) was very much like his Grand Father, and devotee to Lord Shri Krishna. He was the first person in the family to go for a Govt. Service, as India is an Independent Country now. He migrated to Delhi after Voluntary retirement in 1984 form services. It was by default an oath of ancestors not to serve British and Invaders. No one tried to be a courtier, as to be a Brahmin means a lot to us, This natural boycott to the invaders was only patriotism left after losing two family members in 1857 mutiny, but every great decision also takes its toll.

Pt. Madhu Soodan Kaushik (1978) outwardly seems to be an atheist to those who have a strong belief in human worship. His inherent desire to study vedic literature with scientific temperament gave strength to his researches. He received the traditional literature of his forefathers under the guidance of his Guru - Grand Mother Smt. Asharfi Devi (w/o Grand Father Pt. Mussaddi Lal Sharma). He deployed the traditional knowledge of naad and Shruti to his favorite instrument Bansuri.

Miss Anshika Kaushik (2008) presently studying and practicing Flute under guidance of his father Pt. Madhu Soodan Kaushik.

Master Adamya Kaushik (2010) is also presently studying and practicing Flute under guidance of his father Pt. Madhu Soodan Kaushik.

Bansuri is a side blown Bamboo Flute which is played in Indian Subcontinent. There are many variants of Bansuri that are played like Tapera, Vamsi, Venu, Bansur, Murli. Design Style of Flute along with fingering of this instruments also differ from place to place with style of music.

It is also addressed in Rig-Vedic literature too, making it as the oldest Musical Instrument. Natya-Shastra's solve the problem of establishing swars by the use of Venu, as bansuri has fix and unchangeable swars, prove its importance in Classical Indian Music.

Traditionally, Bansuri is crafted from a single hollow shaft (without nodes ) of bamboo with six or eight finger holes. This six hole instrument covers two and a half octaves of music. Generally Bansuri used in performing arts is of 30-75 cm. length. One end is closed, by cork or natural node lock, and few centimeters from the closed end is its blow hole - embouchure . Longer Bansuries deliver deeper tones with low pitch sound.

Some regional names of Bansuri in India are like - bansi, eloo, kulal, kulalu, kukhl, lingbufeniam, murali, murli, nadi, nar, pawa, pullankuzhal, pillana grovi, pulangoil, vansi, vasdanda, and venuvu.

Crafting a Flute

Bansuri is traditionally produced from a special type of bamboo, that naturally grows to long lengths between its nodes (knots). These grow abundantly in Himalayan foothills up to about 11,000 feet with high rainfall. These are particularly found in the northeastern (near Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura) and Western Ghats (near Kerala) states of India where numerous bamboo species grow with Internodal lengths greater than 40 centimetres (16 in).

The harvested bamboo with a desired diameter is cut, dried and treated with natural oils and resins to strengthen it. Once ready, the artisans examine the smoothness, straightness, and measure the dried hollow tube. They mark the exact positions for hole, then use hot metal rod skewers of different diameters to burn in the holes. Drilling and other methods of hole making is avoided as it is believed to damage the fiber orientation and the splits affects the music quality. The burnt in holes are then finished by sanding, one end plugged, the flute ringed at various positions to stabilize its form and shape over time, the unit tested for their musical performance. The distance of a finger-hole from the mouth-hole, and the diameter of the finger-hole controls the note it plays. Adjustments to the diameters of various holes is made by the artisans to achieve purity of the musical notes produced. The wall thickness of the bansuri determines the tone, range and octave tuning. Once all the holes have reached at their performance range, the bansuri is steeped in natural oils, cleaned, dried and decorated or bound with silk or nylon threads.

There are two varieties of bansuri: transverse and fipple. The fipple flute is usually played in folk music and is held at the lips like a tin whistle. Because the transverse variety enables superior control, variations and embellishments, it is preferred in Indian classical music.

Musical notes

Every bansuri by its design and construction has a specific key and tonal center, corresponding to sa (sadja, natural tonic) of the svara scale. This key is achieved by variations in length, inner diameter of the instrument, the relative size and placement of the tap holes. This allows the musician to select a bansuri constructed in the A to G-sharp, for the music she wants to create and share. Shorter lengths, for similar sized tapping holes, construct the G-key, while longer bansuri play the C-key. Higher octaves are produced by increasing the speed of air blown by the musician, usually by pursing and puckering the lips.

Playing

A bansuri is typically held horizontally slanting downwards towards right by the bansuri player. The index, middle and ring fingers of the right hand cover the outer fingerholes, while the same fingers of the left hand cover the rest. The bansuri is supported by the thumb and little finger, while the airhole is positioned near the lips and air blown over it at various speeds to reach the desired octave. For the seven-hole bansuri, the little finger (pinky) of the right hand is usually employed.

Fingering chart for a bansuri

As with other air-reed wind instruments, the sound of a bansuri is generated from resonance of the air column inside it. The length of this column is varied by closing or leaving open, a varying number of holes. Half-holing is employed to play flat or minor notes. The 'sa' (on the Indian sargam scale, or equivalent 'do' on the octave) note is obtained by covering the first three holes from the blowing-hole. Octaves are varied by manipulating one's embouchure and controlling the blowing strength. Either finger tips or finger pads are used by bansuri players to partially or fully cover the tap holes.[citation needed]

In order to play the diatonic scale on a bansuri, one needs to find where the notes lie. For example, in a bansuri where Sa or the tonic is always played by closing the first three holes, is equivalent to C, one can play sheet music by creating a finger notation that corresponds to different notes. A flutist is able to perform complex facets of Raga music such as microtonal inflections, ornamentation, and glissando by varying the breath, performing fast and dexterous fingering, and closing/opening the holes with slow, sweeping gestures.