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The venu (Sanskrit: वेणु; veṇu) is a bamboo transverse flute used in the Carnatic music of South India. Although it is often called Carnatic flute or simply flute in English, venu is the instrument's ancient Sanskrit name. It is also called by various other names in the languages of South India, including pullankuzhal (புல்லாங்குழல்) in Tamil, പുല്ലാങ്കുഴല് in Malayalam, and ಕೊಳಲು (koLalu) in Kannada. It is known as pillana grovi (పిల్లన గ్రోవి) in Telugu (Andhra Pradesh). It is called Bansuri in Marathi (Maharashtra), and is used extensively for Hindustani classical music.
Construction and technique
One of the oldest musical instruments of India, the instrument is a keyless transverse flute made of bamboo. The fingers of both hands are used to close and open the holes. It has a blowing hole near one end, and eight closely placed finger holes. The instrument comes in various sizes.
The venu is capable of producing two and half octaves with the help of overblowing and cross fingering. The flute is like the human voice in that it is monophonous and also has the two and half octaves sound reproduction. Sliding the fingers on and off the holes allows for a great degree of ornamentation, important in the performance of raga-based music.
History
The flute (Venu) finds great mention in indian mythology and folklore having been listed as amongst the 3 original instruments meant for music along with the Saraswati veena and mridangam (veena-venu-mridanga trinity). However it is strange that there is no name mentioned for the typical flute that the Lord plays.
The venu is associated with the Hindu god Krishna, who is often depicted playing it. This kind of flute is mainly used in South India.The Lord Vishnu is portrayed as Sri Venugopala - playing the flute of Creation.
Until the late 19th century, the Carnatic flute (better known in Tamil as the pullanguzhal), a 8-hole bamboo flute, the South Indian equivalent of the North Indian 6-hole bansuri flute, had never been used in Carnatic concerts. Sharaba Shastri has been characterized by his followers as a musical genius after experimenting and creating the Carnatic flute. He is also known for bringing the Carnatic flute to the fore of Carnatic music concerts as an influential instrument. The Sharaba Shastri style or bani of playing was established and was carried on by his disciple Sanjeeva Rao. However it was the self-taught "Mali" who brought a revolution in popularising the Carnatic flute and whose legacy was carried on by Ramani and other national and international disciples of Mali.
Venuists
Venu players of the past
- Palladam Sanjiva Rao
- H. Ramachandra Shastry, a disciple of Palladam Sanjiva Rao.
- T. R. Mahalingam, a child venuist prodigy who started playing the flute at the age of five years. He is most popularly known as "Mali" or sometimes "Flute Mali."
- B.N. Suresh
- T. Viswanathan, grandson of Veena Dhanammal and brother of Balasaraswati
- T. K. Radhakrishnan, son of the Legendary composer Lalithadasar and disciple of Palladam Sanjiva Rao
- T. A. Hariharan - Disciple of Sri T K Radhakrishnan and staff Artiste of AIR Chennai
- Cochin Ranganathan known for his unique style of Swaraprastharas
Venu players of the present
- B. Shankar Rao (b. 1922), largely self taught, great friend and informal student of Late Mali, has enriched the field of Carnatic music for seven decades and continues to do so personally and through his students.
- N. Ramani, (b. 1934), disciple of T. R. Mahalingam
- T. S. Sankaran - Disciple of T R Mahalingam
- Sikkil Sisters - Kunjumani & Neela (b. 1930 and 1940)
- Sikkil Mala Chandrasekar, (b. 1963)
- S. Shashank, (b. 1978) a child venuist prodigy who started to play the flute at the age of six years and give his first concert performance at the age of twelve years.
See also
- Bansuri: The bansuri from the Hindustani music tradition is a 7/8 holed flute. Lord Krishna was also known as Murali-dhara (one who is carrying Murali or flute) and Venu-gopala (Gopala playing the Venu) and the music from his flute was called as Venu Naadham.[citation needed]
- Carnatic Music
- Hindustani Music