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ANANT DHOTRE - Bansuris

Our flute maker Anant Dhotre from Mumbai’s Dadar district learned the art from his father Ramchandra Dhotre, who started in the 1960s to make flutes of professional quality under the guidance of music critic  Mohan Nadkarni, following the musical aesthetics of bansuri pioneer Pannalal Ghosh who died in 1960. After his father’s death, master flautist Ronu Majumdar became the mentor of young Anant. Under the personal supervision of Ronu Majumdar, Anant Dhotre brought his working techniques to perfection and learned all finer aspects of bansuri-playing. In co-operation with Ronu Majumdar he developed a special kind of bass bansuri, which he calls shankh bansuri. Today he supplies numerous professional flautists inside and outside India and is regarded as one of the best Indian flute makers.

Anant Dhotre uses exclusively straight grown, three to four year old bamboo of the variety Cinchor from the inside of forests in the north eastern Indian State of Assam. After cutting, the bamboo gets dried in the sun for a while, before it is treated with a termite repellent and matured for at least three to four years. The longer the storage times the better. Anant Dhotre needs approximately three days for actually making a flute. By means of an electronic tuner he tests the burned-in grip holes for their correct size in order to produce exact intonation. He protects the surface of his bansuris with an elaborate multilayered varnish. Anant Dhotre signs all his flutes with his monogram near the vent hole. Since 2006, India Instruments has been buying all premium bansuris from him.