ALL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

The bansuri (Hindi: ???????) is a transverse alto flute of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, made of a single length of bamboo with six or seven open finger holes. An ancient musical instrument associated with cowherds and the pastoral tradition, it is intimately linked to the love story of Krishna and Radha, and is depicted in Buddhist paintings from around 100 AD. It is intimately associated with Krishna's Rasa lila; the tunes on his flute are poetically associated with driving the women of Braj mad. The North Indian bansuri, typically about 14 inches long, was traditionally used as a soprano instrument primarily for accompaniment in lighter compositions including film music.

The word bansuri originates in the Sanskrit bans [bamboo] + swar [musical note]. There are two varieties of bansuri: the transverse, and the fipple. The fipple variety is usually played in folk music and is held away from the lips like a whistle. Because of the flexibility and control it offers, the transverse variety is preferred in classical music.

Pandit Pannalal Ghosh (1911-1960) elevated the Bansuri from a folk instrument into serious classical music. He improvised with the length and number of holes and eventually came up with longer bansuris with larger bores and a seventh hole placed 90 degrees around from the line of the other six holes. Longer bansuris provided better coverage in the lower octaves.

A friend who is a fine classical guitarist posed for me with his lute. This was more a grab shot than a studio effort. I used available light and did extensive post processing to burn down the distracting background after converting the image to black and white, and cropping square.

Don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without explicit permission.
© James R. Page - all rights reserved.