How many flutes can a musician play on in a concert? Ask ace flautist S. Shashank, who will be performing at the Sree Ramaseva Mandali concert at Chamarajpet on Friday and he shrugs, “Maybe a dozen flutes would easily appear in my concert for the huge acoustic span at the pandal.”
He can coax distinct and diverse tones from each of his flutes.
Mr. Shashank looks at intricate and nuanced tonal variations not just for his Carnatic genre. He is also proficient in jazz and other genres of western music.
“Years ago, it was N. Ramani who introduced bass flutes into Carnatic music. Over the years I wanted to experience the finer gradations in tone and presentation techniques, so I went on a study of flutes which took me to Harsh Vardhan of Delhi who could ‘build flutes’ the way I wanted them. This is especially with respect to placement of holes,” explains Mr. Shashank.
Be it raga, tana and pallavi and the other improvisations that explain one’s breath control and use of fingers, Mr. Shashank’s depth of knowledge is enviable.
He initially learnt from his father, Subramanyam, and later from R.K. Srikantan, Palghat K.V. Narayanaswamy and Pandit Jasraj.
“I first found it difficult to find flutes that adhered to the right shruti and tone. After my search, I knew that a ‘multi-flute range’ is the answer to handling a wider range. This helped me create a new technique, multi-transport fingering approaches, for enhanced aesthetics in the flow,” says Mr. Shashank. The tonal depths in each also helped him come up with a dual octave technique where he handles two octaves at the same time.
For the Friday concert, Mr. Shashank will be accompanied on violin by B.U. Ganesh Prasad and on percussion by Parupalli Phalgun and Guruprasanna.
