Dhrupad flautist and inventor of the Dhrupad curved flute
Dhrupad flautist and inventor of the Dhrupad curved flute
A bansuri reshaped for Dhrupad: U-shaped, played with ten fingers and no keys, and able to cover four octaves on a single instrument.
Dhrupad asks for long, continuous slides between notes, something a straight bansuri had never fully allowed on a single instrument.
After three years of study and research, Dhrupad flautist Sameer Inamdar created the Dhrupad curved flute: a U-shaped flute with a small chamber, or tumba, below it, which lets it cover four octaves.
On a single instrument, thanks to the tumba below.
The U-shaped body is played with all ten fingers, with no added keys or mechanism, and connects the octaves precisely.
Set against the tanpura’s drone rather than the chromatic scale, so each note sits true.
Made to work with the player’s body, not against it.
An earlier version of the flute won a Limca Book of Records National Record in 2013. It was later upgraded to its present four octaves. The design is protected by a Certificate of Registration of Design from the Government of India, under the Designs Act 2000.
He also made the Pavan Venu, one of the smallest flutes in the world, and the six-foot tanpura Maha Tumburu. See all of his instruments.
It is a U-shaped bansuri designed for Dhrupad, the tradition of North Indian classical music built on long, sliding notes. A small chamber, or tumba, below the flute lets it cover four octaves on a single instrument.
Sameer Inamdar, a Dhrupad flautist and teacher based in Pune, India, invented it after three years of study and research.
Four octaves, on a single instrument.
No. It is played with all ten fingers, with no added keys or mechanism.
An earlier version won a Limca Book of Records National Record in 2013, before the flute was upgraded to its present four octaves.
Sameer Inamdar teaches the traditional bansuri and the Dhrupad curved flute at Dhrupad Gurukul, online and in person. See Learn Dhrupad for the programs.
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