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Shehnai is one of those instruments that anyone by default associates with Indian weddings. Since time immemorial, there have been Shehnai players in the country who are seated at the entrance or near the mandap of the wedding making the atmosphere feel nuptial.

But over the years, with the advent of recorded music and dramatic transformation in wedding ceremonies, the sound of the King of Flutes [Sheh (King) + Nai (Flute)] has been fading. Now, one can hardly see such players and for the very reason, the instrument and the artists are at stake.

In such a time, a man across several continents has taken up the mission to revive the classical instrument and make it a very ‘in’ thing for Gen Z.

Meet Ankit Patel aka The Shehnai Guy from Atlanta, Georgia. He is one of those musicians that you can’t afford to miss. The Shehnai Guy has made the instrument much more relatable and merrier by creating instrumental versions of epic Bollywood songs and posting them on his social media handles.

Many of his videos also went viral – like ‘Ae Kya Bolti Tu’ and ‘Jingle Bells’ which was tweeted by Anand Mahindra!

Ankit, in conversation with LifeBeyondNumbers, shared his musical journey and his love for the magical Shehnai.

Ankit was born in England and lived there for about 12 years before moving to the United States. Ankit’s paternal roots can be traced back to Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He says that he has always been interested in playing music and started off initially as a keyboard player.

“When I was a child, around 7 or 8 years old, my parents bought me a small keyboard. I picked it up quickly and was learning to play simple songs like “Happy Birthday” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. I realized that I enjoyed it so much, and I just kept playing the keyboard at that time. I never took any formal lessons but only took some guidance from those friends and relatives who knew how to play it at least at a decent level. And it wasn’t until I was in America when I had the opportunity to play at our local Hindu gatherings. But it was when I was about 12 years old when and how I first started because I had an outlet to play and perform. Later, I was getting better and better, and I was getting more involved. I was becoming more interested and wanted to learn more. That’s when I fully started to devote myself to music, primarily the keyboard. About 10 or 15 years later, I finally began to play music professionally,” shares Ankit.

It was after many years when Ankit was introduced to Shehnai. He always had an affinity towards classical music and that’s what led him to the instrument. Ankit has been playing it for the last 8 years and being trained by his Guruji Rajubhai Dhumal in Mumbai whom he visits whenever time permits.

“After few years, I decided to pick up Shehnai. And when it comes to Shehnai, I believe that formal training is required as with any other classical instrument, you need a teacher, a Guruji. I have a Guruji in Mumbai, and I have been learning to play Shehnai from him for the past 8 years. But since 2015 I’ve been really focusing a lot on this and I’ve been also performing for the past 3 years,” he adds.

Today, Ankit has a band called JashnATL where he plays Shehnai and keyboard. He has created many original tracks that are available on his Youtube channel. As Shehnai is mostly played at weddings, the band also performs at Indian weddings and parties.

“People always appreciate and want a live Shehnai player for a wedding. So, I am actually lucky to get to travel all of the United States for weddings to perform and play the Shehnai, and it’s been amazing,” says The Shehnai Guy.

Ankit Patel is a major fan of A R Rehman and is hugely inspired by Late Ustad Bismillah Khan. But that doesn’t stop him from trying out all sorts of peppy tracks that make his social media handles all the more vivid for his audience.

The musician says that his platform, The Shehnai Guy, is primarily meant to inspire the next generation in pursuing their hobbies, their talents, and their passion as well as educating the world that this instrument still exists. It’s not a boring but creative and fun instrument; it’s got a lot of emotion and is extremely versatile.

“I would say that for anyone who wants to get into music, whether it is a hobby or as a career, never ever lose the passion. It always has to be about passion. You should want to practice; you should want to play, to record, and to perform,” states the musician.

Besides being a musician, Ankit has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from the Georgia State University (Class of 2005). That’s where he met his wife Archana and they both got hitched in 2010. They are now doting parents to a young lad named Avi. Patel owns a digital marketing firm called K3 Marketing that he has been running for 15 years now. He is a Google premier partner and specializes in Google ads. His wife is a research scientist at Emory University and is additionally a Fashion blogger who owns Pocket Passionista, a channel dedicated to creating exposure of practical functional pockets in women’s clothing.