THE FLUTE OF SOUTH INDIA

The VENU (Sanskrit) is one of the ancient transverse flutes of Indian Classical Music. A Venu is a part of the Iconography of Hindu God Srikrishna. It is an aero phone typically made from bamboo, that is a side blown wind instrument. It continues to be in use in the South Indian Carnatic Music Tradition. In North Indian Music, a similar flute is called Bansuri. In the South , it is also called by various other names such as Pulangoil , Venu, Karnatic Flute, Pullanguzhal and Pillana Grovi (in Telugu), it is also called as Carnatic Flute. are the many names given to this unique eight-hole South Indian Flute. It is commonly referred to as Carnatic or Karnatik or Karnatic Flute based upon the earlier name for a large region of South India.

Though an ancient instrument, most prevalent design of Carnatic Flute is the one which is said to have been invented by Sharaba Shastri (1872-1904) of the Palladam School, in the beginning of the 20th Century.

It was through untiring efforts of Palladam Sanjeeva Rao disciple of Sarabha Shastri that flute started to be recognized as a concert instrument. This design was subsequently adopted, improved and vastly popularized by Sri T.R. Mahalingam a.k.a Mali. Later Padmasri Dr.N. Ramani, (Disciple of T.R. Mahalingam) was found playing the flute melody. It is now considered to be the traditional style flute of South Indian.