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bansuri

In several North Indian languages for many different types of flutes, mostly for transverse flutes played in Indian music

Entitytype of musical instrumentQ960389

Also known as venu · nadi · tunava · murali · vamshi · bansi

Instance of: type of musical instrument
Subclass of: stopped side-blown flute with fingerholes
, bamboo flute

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

A bansuri/flute is an ancient side-blown bamboo flute originating from the Indian Subcontinent. It is an aerophone produced from bamboo and metal-like material, used in many Indian, Sri Lankan and Nepali folk songs. A bansuri is traditionally made from a single hollow shaft of bamboo with seven finger holes. Some modern designs come in ivory, fiberglass and various metals. The six-hole instrument covers two and a half octaves of music. The bansuri is typically between 30 and 75 centimetres in length, and the thickness of a human thumb. The sound of the bansuri depends on size of the bamboo. One end is closed, and few centimeters from the closed end is its blow hole. Longer bansuris feature deeper tones and lower pitches. The traditional design features no mechanical keys, and the musician creates the notes they want by covering and uncovering the various finger holes.

Overview

All data

21 statements · 48% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Made from material: bamboo
Country of origin: India
Hornbostel-Sachs classification: 421.121.32

On other databases

13 identifiers linking bansuri across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

48%

externally sourced

Source last edited May 26, 2026. AIDb refreshes this page daily.

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AIDb. (2026). bansuri (Q960389). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/bansuri-Q960389