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Little did any one realize that
a young lad from tinsel town in Karnataka, whose
younger sister bought him a small flute from a village
fair, will reach to the heights of one of the favourite
disciples of Pt.Hariprasad Chaurasia.
Padmanabha Bapu, affectionately known as “Bapu”
was studying tool engineering in Hospet(Karnataka).
His knowledge of music was limited to the notes
of harmonium taught by his grand father. He became
so much obsessed with the flute that he started
treating his idol Pt.Hariprasad Chaurasia,as his
Guru in absentia. He purchased all audio cassettes
of Hariji and started imitating his style, he use
to practice for hours together and side by side
he was continuously searching for a formal flute
teacher within Karnataka.The search however brought
no results because he was actually fated to become
a disciple of his idol Hariji.
In August 1999,while pursuing 7th semester of
his tool engineering programme, his urge brought
him to Bombay. Initially he had to face disappointment
of not being able to seek a meeting with Hariji
and he returned to his college. Bapu was, however
in no mood to give up and he was finally able
to meet Panditji who admitted him to his class
after the demonstration recital. Since this trip
to Bombay was without the knowledge and consent
of his parents, Bapu had no money with him. He
use to attend Hariji’s classes in the morning
and work as a waiter(with pride)in a small restaurant,
earning just enough to sustain him in Bombay this
exposure for 45 days brought a new confidence
and Bapu was fully energized and charged up for
a ‘break’. Returning to his college,
he received a monthly scholarship called “Panna
Devi Music Scholarship” for complete
one year. This was a display of a definite confidence
that his guru had imposed in him. He completed
the tool engineering course securing a first class
in the year 2000.
For a fresh mechanical engineer, there were definite
options to get employment in Karnataka, but his
mind was set towards Bombay because he had a feeling
that his profession, finally would be a flute
player rather than a mechanical engineer. Fortunately
he was offered a job in TACO(tata automotive components)in
Pune. He took it as a two fold blessing, firstly
Pune being the best cultural centre of India and
secondly it being so close to Bombay. While working
at TACO, Bapu continued his interest in the flute
and majority of his spare time was spent in perfecting
his style. He performed at few social as well
as cultural venues. His first major performance
was at OSHO Samadhi in September 2001. This proved
to be a turning point of his music carrier and
he inclined himself to devotional and relaxing
Indian classical music, he became a composer for
FTII Pune, performed at major music festivals
in India, and played as a part of music compositions
in film industry. By this time, his interests
had fully shifted to music and he took a bold
decision of leaving his job with TACO and devoting
fully to music. Financially, his position also
started looking up and he well realized that he
had no regrets of this decision. He had local
support of some friends and well wishers who encouraged
him to go ahead. The results were rewarding and
his first CD “VIVIDHA”
was launched in Dec 2004. Since then he has launched
few more albums which have become very popular
specially with the serious kind of music lovers.
In the age of globalization, Bapu is not left
behind he has recived invitations from musical
groups, concert programmes and and holiday cruises
from Australia,USA and Dubai. He is in the process
of signing up with New Age Music Delhi whose specialize
healing and meditation music. Bapu is fond of
experimenting flutes with Vedas chantings and
the same has been appreciated by one and all.
He is reciving enquires from various companies
and sponsers from different parts of the world.
The days ahead look very promising and the future
very bright.
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