On May 4, 1959, the first Annual Grammy Awards were presented. What follows is a quiz on music.

Hit the right note

1 Allauddin Khan, Ravi Shankar, Nikhil Banerjee, Ali Akbar Khan and Annapurna Devi are all musicians from which legendary musical gharana from Madhya Pradesh?

2 If the most famous band to win the Eurovision song contest is probably ABBA, with Waterloo in 1974, which hugely famous singer of the ’90s won the contest for Switzerland with the song Ne partez pas sans moi , which launched her international career?

3 The 1985 winner of the Song of the Year award at the Grammy’s was We Are the World , a single recorded for raising money for Africa. Which two musicians shared songwriting credits for the hit?

4 Though there are occasionally separate keyboard sections as well, most traditional orchestras have four basic families of instruments. Three of them are the strings like the violin and cello, percussion with the drums and cymbals, and brass with the horn, trumpet and tuba. Which is the fourth?

5 What started off with the lyrics ‘Scrambled eggs, Oh my baby how I love your legs, Not as much as I love scrambled eggs’?

6 Which musical maestro’s first appearance in the Mumbai film industry was an unforgettable performance in Rishi Kapoor’s and Neetu Singh’s sangeet ceremony on the invitation of Raj Kapoor?

7 Which band was named after a Florida gym teacher who didn’t allow his pupils to have long hair?

8 This song was first released in late 1975 and went to number 1 on the UK charts in early 1976. It went back to the same spot for another five weeks in 1991. Which song and why did it make a comeback?

9 Which European country’s national anthem had lyrics till the early 1980s, which were discontinued after a right-wing dictatorship lost power?

10 Which hugely popular boy band is estimated to add around $3.6 billion to the South Korean economy with an estimated one in 13 tourists citing it as their main reason to visit the country?

Answers

1 The Maihar gharana, originally sponsored by the princely state of Maihar

2 Celine Dion

3 Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie

4 Woodwind — the flute, clarinet and bassoon are some of the instruments

5 The Beatles song Yesterday , composed by Paul McCartney, one of the few songs to have been recorded over a thousand times

6 Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

7 Lynyrd Skynyrd, named after Leonard Skinner, who taught at the Robert E Lee High School

8 Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. It was re-released when Freddie Mercury died in 1991 and then again with the release of the eponymous film in 2018

9 Spain

10 BTS — Bangtan Sonyeondan — now known as Beyond the Scene

BLINKJOY
 

Joy Bhattacharjya is a quizmaster; Twitter: @joybhattacharj

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