শানিশ কুমার

Dr Shanish Kumar plays the bansuri in the Banaras tradition. He studied in Varanasi under Vinod Prasanna and Prahalad Nath, and holds a PhD in musicology from Banaras Hindu University. His playing carries the Banaras gharana's vocal-inflected approach to the flute. He has performed at the Sankatmochan Sangeet Samaroh, Ganga Mahotsava and Khajuraho Dance Festival, and he has taught bansuri and Hindustani classical music for over 15 years.

A bansuri is a transverse flute cut from a single length of seasoned bamboo. It has no keys and no moving parts, only six finger holes, or seven in Pannalal Ghosh's style. The maker burns or drills the blow hole and the finger holes. The player controls pitch through the lips at the blow hole, breath pressure and half-holing, covering a finger hole in part, which gives the slides and bends of a raga. Until the 1940s it was not thought a concert instrument; Pannalal Ghosh made a larger bansuri for the classical stage.

Yes. You do not need to recognise a raga or count a taal to follow a Hindustani (North Indian) classical concert.

A raga performance opens with the alap, a slow section with no pulse. In instrumental music the jor then brings in a steady pulse, and when the tabla enters with the composition, the rhythm takes hold.

Come at the door time so you hear the opening alap. New to the format? Read what a baithak is and when to arrive. Going to a dance evening? Read what Kathak is.