Madhab Krishna Das plays a flute. Picture by UB Photos

Aug. 9: For a flautist, it is the best possible buy. On offer for the first time in the region is a set which includes flutes of every scale and length.

Asom Kalasatra, an organisation set up in 2007 to popularise Assamese folk culture, has put together the set of flutes under the brand name Madhab Bansuri.

The set consists of 24 flutes, ranging from 5.5 inches to three feet in length and the price of the package will be between Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000.

Eminent flautist Prabhat Sharma, who inaugurated the set of flutes today, thanked the man behind the project, Madhab Krishna Das.

From folk to classical music, the flute is an indispensable instrument. Although Assam is rich in bamboo, which is ideal to make flutes, a customer earlier had to visit many shops to collect flutes of different scales.

Besides, there was no attempt for commercial flute manufacturers to package different scales together.

“We have designed a bag so all the flutes can be carried together without difficulty,” said Madhab Das, a cameraman by profession. The son of folk artiste Dolly Das, he has excelled in playing instruments like the flute and keyboard. Madhab Das said he decided to inaugurate the package today because the date coincided with his wife Maya’s birthday and his parents’ marriage anniversary.

Das has already received orders for 200 sets from New Delhi. He has two centres in Silchar and Mizoram to make flutes, which he looks after with the help of his wife Maya Senji Das, the managing director of Asom Kalasatra.

Maya, a Tamilian, is also a video editor by profession.

Madhab Das said they would start home delivery of the set of flutes soon and interested persons and flautists alike can place their order online on the organisation’s website.

Friends of the couple also regaled those present at the programme with tales of their love story. “While he was in Cotton College, Madhab used to play the flute for which the girls admired him and we called him Kolir Krishna. But it was not the girls from Cotton College but Maya from Chennai who danced to the tune of his flute,” said Manoram Gogoi, a friend.

Those present at the inauguration also hoped Madhab Bansuri would emerge as a brand name in the flute industry, the way Fender and Gibson are in the guitar industry.