Shehnai
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| Other names | Sharnai, Saanai, Sahnai, Sanai, Serunai, Shahnai, Shanai, Shenai, Shehnaai, Shenoy, |
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| Classification | |
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The shehnai (also spelled shenai) is a musical instrument from South Asia. It is made of wood, with a double reed at one end and a metal or wooden flared bell at the other end.[1][2][3] It was one of the nine instruments found in the royal court.[vague] The shehnai is similar to South India's nadaswaram.
Characteristics
[edit]This tubular instrument gradually broadens towards the lower end. It usually has between six and nine holes. It employs one set of quadruple reeds, making it a quadruple reed woodwind. To master the instrument, the musician must employ various and intricate embouchure and fingering techniques.[1]
The shehnai has a range of two octaves, from the A below middle C to the A one line above the treble clef (A3 to A5 in scientific pitch notation). A shehnai is often but not always made with a body of wood or bamboo and a flared metal end.[4]
Origin of the shehnai
[edit]The shehnai is thought to have been brought by the Mughal Empire as its use was most associated with the Mughal courts.
Etymology
[edit]Several folk etymologies and scholarly theories exist regarding the name shehnai.
According to a widely cited legend, Emperor Aurangzeb banned the playing of the pungi in his royal court because of its shrill sound. A barber (nai) from a family of professional musicians subsequently improved the instrument by fashioning a longer, broader pipe with seven holes, producing a softer and more melodious tone. Since the new instrument was first played in the Shah's chambers and its creator was a nai, the instrument came to be called shehnai.[5] A variant of this legend holds that the name derives from the combination of shāh (king) and nai (flute), meaning "the king's flute" or "royal flute".[6]
Another theory proposes that shehnai is a modification of sur-nāl (from sur, meaning musical note or melody, and nāl/nālī/nād, meaning pipe or reed in several Indian languages). Musicologist Dileep Karanth has argued that the sur-nāl may also be the etymological root of the surna/zurna, the name by which similar reed-pipes are known throughout the Middle East and Eastern Europe.[7]
Similar instruments
[edit]The counterparts to the shehnai played in Western India and Coastal Karnataka are indigenous to the territory. Shehnai players were/are an integral part of the Goan/Konkani region and the temples along the western coast and the players are called Vajantri and were allotted lands for services rendered to the temples.[8]
Music
[edit]The shehnai is played during religious festivities and wedding celebrations.[9]
Gallery
[edit]-
The Nepalese version, called the sahane, has a curve and is played in the panche baja. -
A shehnai player. most commonly occurred in South India
Notable Indian shehnai players
[edit]- Bismillah Khan
- Pandit Shailesh Bhagwat
- Anant Lal
- Ali Ahmed Hussain Khan
- S Ballesh Bhajantri
- Lokesh Anand
- Daya Shankar, son of Anant Lal
Other related wind instruments
[edit]- Mizmar, a shawm similar to the shehnai
- Nadaswaram, a similar South Indian instrument
- Reed instrument, a type of woodwind instrument
- Shawm, a type of reed instrument
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b "Shehnai | musical instrument". Britannica. www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-03-10.
- ^ Ranade. p. 307.
- ^ Hoiberg, p. 1
- ^ "shehnai". metmuseum.org. Allen Roda. March 2009. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
- ^ "The Sound of Music – Part II: The Shehnai of Bismillah Khan". Beehive: Textbook in English for Class IX. NCERT. 2006. ISBN 81-7450-502-4.
- ^ "Shahanai". India Instruments. Retrieved 2026-02-17.
Shahanai is a compound of two words, i.e. shah + nai = shahanai which means the king of all wind instruments.
- ^ Karanth, Dileep (2005). "The Indian Oboe Reexamined". E-ASPAC.
- ^ Gazetteer of the Union Territory Goa, Daman and Diu: district gazetteer, Volume 1. Gazetteer Dept., Govt. of the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu. 1979.
- ^ "Shehnai | Indian Classical, North Indian, Wedding Ceremonies | Britannica". www.britannica.com.
References
[edit]- Ranade, Ashok Damodar (2006). Music contexts: a concise dictionary of Hindustani Music. Bibliophile South Asia. ISBN 81-85002-63-0.
- Hoiberg, Dale; Indu Ramchandani (2000). Students' Britannica India. Popular Prakashan. ISBN 9780852297605.
