G# bass Carnatic Flute - played in Hindustani style by Shashank Subramanyam

This video clip features a bass bamboo flute meant for playing Carnatic music, but the melody presented here is of Hindustani style, played expertly by flute virtuoso Shashank Subramaniam. The tonic Sa is taken at the standard Carnatic position of two fingers down. This flute is made employing my hole-tunneling™ technique, which makes the 7th and other holes relatively quite easy to finger. This super easy to play bass flute also sports Neo-bansuri™ lip-plate, which boosts the volume and lends a thicker, darker tone to the sound.

Many thanks to Shashank Subramanyam for making this video for me.

*Traditionally, south Indian Carnatic music is played on small flutes – as the intricacy of various gamakas and other ornamentations inherent to this genre, make it a sine qua non that the flute’s 7th hole be fingered extensively. In large bass flutes, it would be all but impossible to reach the 7th hole, which is played with the pinkie finger.