Raju Kumar has come a long way in the past two decades — from a teen with a passion to learn the saxophone to the only artiste in the state playing the instrument.

In the late-1980s, young Raju used to visit the Bihar Military Police (BMP) headquarters in Patna to watch the Republic Day parades. He developed an interest in the saxophone, a popular instrument in the military band, and also played in the BMP band. Soon, Raju approached band leader Lalit Kumar Lakra to train him in playing the saxophone, commonly associated with jazz and classical music.

After denials for a month, Lakra was finally convinced of Raju’s drive to learn the saxophone. Now, 40, Raju is a firm believer in following one’s passion to achieve greatness in life. The Telegraph caught up with the saxophonist to learn of his journey.

“I stood before him (Lakra) for hours for around a month just to convince him to train me. I was 17 years old when I approached him. He was doubtful whether I would be able to play the instrument as it requires a lot of potential and energy,” said the musician, popularly known as Raju Bhai among music lovers in the city.

Lakra gave into Raju’s pleas in 1990. A rigorous training followed. Raju started giving solo performances from the age of 20.

One of the early challenges for him was getting a good saxophone. As they were expensive, he started off with an inferior version before getting a saxophone worth Rs 3 lakh three years ago.

“My challenge was to get a good saxophone so that jazz lovers could listen to some quality music. I learnt to play the saxophone on Lalitji’s instrument. I managed to get an average saxophone initially as the good ones were very expensive and not manufactured in India,” he said.

The lack of a superior saxophone though did not stop the artiste from becoming a good soloist.

“In 2010, I spent my savings on a new saxophone worth Rs 3 lakh. But the road to save the money was not smooth. I played saxophone at several events in Patna where there was no one to understand the notes or appreciate my effort. Through word of mouth I gradually got work in places outside Patna, like Chhattisgarh, Calcutta, Chennai, Odisha, Mumbai, Jharkhand and Kathmandu. Through these events I saved a lot,” said Raju.

In his quest for greatness as a solo saxophonist, he even declined offers to join the BMP band. “To play a saxophone, one needs regular practice. If I had switched to any other job, I would not have been able to give time to my instrument,” he said.

He rues ignorance among the present generation about the saxophone. This has also kept him away from training anybody in the past five years.

Concerned about the extinction of the jazz music and saxophonists in the state, Raju said: “Nothing separates generations more than music. The new fashion is Bollywood and not instrumentals. Many of them (the present generation) don’t even know what a saxophone sounds like.”

To keep the tradition alive, Raju trains people who only have interest in saxophones and the ability to buy the instrument.