The melodious success story of a flute maker

GADAG: He’s come a long way from his days as a chilli seller. Once he did not have the money to buy a good flute, but now he’s a famous flute maker and has got a star-studded list of customers from across the globe. A few years ago, the man who was passionate about playing flutes could not even afford to pay a professional trainer. Today, the sweet melodies of his flutes resonate in 120 countries. The journey of 39-year-old Ramesh Bakale has been an arduous one but his love towards flutes and perseverance helped him sail through all the bitter experiences of life. His friends and relatives say that he has got some lucky musical connection.

Since his school days, Ramesh was in love with flutes. He would hear the flute sellers playing them for hours and started learning it at quite an early age. Poverty did not allow him to buy a flute, but as fate would have it, he got admission in Gadag’s Veereshwar Punyashram which has been giving free tuitions to music aficionados for the past many years.

Ramesh started learning flute under the guidance of Manjunath Bhat, a renowned musician and a teacher. Circumstances soon forced him to take up chilli selling on Mulgund Road near HUDCO Colony to eke out a living. His love for flutes, however, persisted and he continued learning flutes and selling veggies together.

A realisation that the cheap flute he was using was not producing fine notes changed his life for the better. “In 2008, I felt that my flute was not suitable for tuning some notes and hence I started making flutes on my own. Manjunath sir and others gave me some tips and I also visited Mysuru to meet flute-makers and flautists who were good at their work. One musician Naveenkumar gave me 10 bamboo sticks and asked me to make flutes. When he played the flutes made by me, his joy knew no bounds and he subsequently referred my name to many musicians,” recalls Ramesh.

Soon, his popularity spread and musicians from other states and countries too started contacting Ramesh. His profits zoomed and he bid adieu to the chilli selling . Apart from A R Rahman Music group, Ramesh has supplied flutes to famous musicians like Praveen Godkhindi, Pt. Venkatesh Godkhindi, Vikas Choudari (U K), Sayyed Hussain (Canada), Pt Rajendra Kulakarni (Pune), Himendra Dixit (Ahmedabad), Ramesh Gulani (Pune), Manimaran Subramanium (Singapore) and Shiraj Ahemd (Dubai).

Three years ago, Ramesh started his own Bakale Music Education and Skill Development Gurukul Society to ensure that budding flautists do not suffer for want of proper guidance. Currently, 14 students are getting free training at his gurukul.

Full-fledged flute academy his dream

“I have been training the students since the last few years. But my dream is to start a proper flute academy in gurukul style where new experiments may take place. The government should provide some facilities to flute learners and makers,” says Ramesh.

Flawless flutes

Ramesh prepares 32 types of flutes ranging from 7 inches to 45 inches. Two staffers are there to assist him. He gets special bamboo stalks from Assam, which are soaked in mustard oil for 7 days. They are then polished with sand paper, and subsequently blow hole and finger hole are made as per the demand of the musicians. The price of the flutes ranges from K500 to K3,500.

Ramesh makes about 20-25 flutes per day. “Flute-making is a creative work. We have to be careful while making holes. I do not know how I learnt it. I just call it a god’s gift. I never consider flute-making a pure ,” says Ramesh.  “The very ingenious make of the flutes produces subtle tunes to suit the tenor of the ragas enchantingly. The sonorous and the deep melodies that emanate from them touch the core of our hearts, so every time we need flutes, we contact Ramesh,” says Sheetal Gunjate, a flautist from Sangli.