Shivkumar Sharma

Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (13 January 1938 – 10 May 2022) was an Indian classical musician and santoor player who is credited with adapting the santoor for Indian classical music.

Sharma was born on 13 January 1938, in Jammu in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in British India.

His father Uma Dutt Sharma was a vocalist and a tabla player.

His father started teaching him vocals and tabla, when he was just five.

His father saw an opportunity to introduce him to the santoor, a hammered dulcimer, which was a folk instrument that traced its origins to ancient Persia, but was played in Kashmir.

He saw the styles that integrated Sufi notes with traditional Kashmiri folk music and had his son play the instrument that was then new to Indian classical music.

Sharma started learning santoor at the age of thirteen and gave his first public performance in Mumbai in 1955.

The one-hour-long rendition of Raga Yaman at his first live performance in 1955, left his audience in Mumbai shouting ‘Encore!’

Starting his career playing the santoor with his father, Sharma is credited with introducing the santoor as a popular Indian classical music instrument.

Sharma composed the background music for one of the scenes in V. Shantaram's film Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje (1955) where Gopi Krishna performed a Kathak dance piece.

He recorded his first solo album in 1960.

Sharma took the santoor as an Indian classical musical instrument playing at various music venues.

He collaborated with Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain and with flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia on many of his performances as well as on his albums.

Sharma also played tabla including in the popular song "Mo Se Chhal Kiye Jaaye" sung by Lata Mangeshkar in the 1965 film Guide, on the insistence of music director S. D. Burman.

However, Sharma's focus remained on classic music rather than film songs; he said, "Classical music is not for entertainment. It is to take you on a meditative journey, ye toh mehsoos karne ki cheez hai (This has to be experienced)."

In 1967, he teamed up with Chaurasia and guitarist Brij Bhushan Kabra to produce a concept album, Call of the Valley (1967), which turned out to be one of Indian classical music's greatest hits.

Sharma’s 1968 concert in Los Angeles was his first performance abroad.

He followed this with a tour of England in 1970.

Further, he composed music for many Hindi films in collaboration with Chaurasia, starting with Silsila (1981).

They came to be known as the Shiv–Hari music duo.

As a music composer, he collaborated with Indian flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia under the collaborative name Shiv–Hari and composed music for such hit Indian films as Faasle (1985), Chandni (1989), and Lamhe (1991).

Some of the movies they composed music for were musical hits, such as Faasle (1985), Chandni (1989), Lamhe (1991), and Darr (1993).

Sharma was the recipient of national and international awards, including an honorary citizenship of the city of Baltimore, USA, in 1985, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1986, the Padma Shri in 1991, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2001.

Some of his other awards included:

Sharma was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1986 and the Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan (India's fourth and second highest civilian awards) in 1991 and 2001.

Sharma was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akadeemi Award in 1986, the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award in 1991, and the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award in 2001.

Sharma married Manorama and had one son.

In 1996, Sharma and his son Rahul played the santoor on a stage in Norway, as 'equals' for the first time.

His son Rahul, who started learning at the age of 13, is also a santoor player, and they performed together since 1996.

In a 1999 interview, Sharma stated that he chose Rahul as his shishya, because he thought he had the "gift of God".

Sharma died on 10 May 2022 from a cardiac arrest.

He was 84 years old.

He had kidney failure for the last few months and went through regular dialysis.

He received a state funeral at Pawan Hans Juhu aerodrome, Mumbai, on 11 May 2022.

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