Glossary · glossary · 1 min read
Bansuri
बांसुरी; the bamboo flute
The bansuri is North India's side-blown bamboo flute, with six or seven finger holes and no keys. You will hear it in folk, devotional and concert music.
By John, Music lover from Bangalore · Reviewed by BRR · Last reviewed 29 Sept 2026
Bansuri
The bansuri is North India's side-blown bamboo flute. A player holds it sideways and blows across a hole in the tube. Made from one hollow length of bamboo, it has six or seven finger holes and no keys to press.
The flute's length sets its pitch, so a player carries several bansuris for different Sa, the home note. Fingers and breath shape the notes. Half covering a finger hole and adjusting the breath let the player bend notes and glide between them.
Where you will hear it
Pannalal Ghosh helped bring it onto the concert stage, followed later by Hariprasad Chaurasia. The instrument remains a plain bamboo tube, with six or seven finger holes and no keys. Fingers and breath do the work of shaping its notes.
For an example, picture a long, low bansuri playing a slow alap in Raga Yaman. An alap explores a raga, a melodic framework. Listen for bends made through breath and partly covered finger holes.
Keep going
- Bansuri: the bamboo flute explained · The bansuri is North India's side-blown flute, made from one hollow, seasoned length of bamboo with a blowing hole and six or seven finger holes. Fingers and breath change its notes without keys; listen for slides between notes, breath-shaped phrases and returns to Sa, the home note.