Sangeet Natak Akademi Award winner and Padma Vibhushan, Pt Shivkumar Sharma is credited to giving santoor a classical standing among the many ranks of sitar and sarod. He was additionally the primary musician to convey the santoor to Indian cinema.
He handed away right now on the age of 84 on account of a cardiac arrest. Tributes have began pouring in for the legendary musician, with the Prime Minister and President paying their respects.
Our cultural world is poorer with the demise of Pandit Shivkumar Sharma Ji. He popularized the santoor at a worldwide degree. His music will proceed to entral the approaching generations. I fondly keep in mind my interactions with him. Condolences to his household and admirers. Om Shanti.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 10, 2022
Born in Jammu in 1938, Sharma started studying santoor on the age of 13 when it was a 100-stringed instrument performed solely in Jammu and Kashmir folks music. He was following the legacy of his father Pt Uma Dutt Sharma, a well-known vocalist and tabla participant of J&Okay. But it was the tabla that Sharma began his musical coaching with on the age of 5.
Sharma performed in entrance of an viewers for the primary time in 1955 in Haridas Sangeet Sammelan, Mumbai. But quickly after, Sharma was known as again to Jammu by his father who wished him to take up a job provided within the Jammu and Srinagar Radio. However, Sharma wished to discover music past the confines of a authorities job, and got here to Mumbai with INR 500 and his santoor. In an interview with DNA India, Sharma mentioned, “I remember going around looking for work. There were days when I had only an anna in my pocket and nothing to eat. I’d play the tabla to accompany others. Concerts were hard to come by because of the negative criticism of the santoor. The odd film assignments helped sustain me.”
Santoor participant Pandit Shivkumar Sharma with flute participant Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. (Express archive picture by Neeraj Priyadarshi 30.12.1995)
In 1981, legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra provided Sharma and flutist Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia, lovingly known as the Shiv-Hari duo, to make the music of Silsila. In the followimng decade, they went on to work on the music for Faasle, Vijay, Chandni, Lamhe, Sahibaan and Darr,
He was conferred with the distinguished Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 1986, and with the Padma Shri in 1991. He was additionally awarded the Padma Vibhuhan in 2001. Sharma has performed earlier than the House of Lords within the UK and the Queen of the Netherlands and likewise has been conferred honorary citizenship of the US metropolis of Baltimore for his contribution to music.
In the DNA India interview, Sharma additionally mentioned that he stopped making music for movies as a result of “Film music depends a great deal on a filmmaker’s taste and thoughts. Today’s film music is heavily influenced by Western beats and has more noise than melody. That’s the problem. We’re such great imitators of even mediocrity. So you see even if we had the time, which we clearly don’t, where’re the right kind of directors to work with?”
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
