Santoor legend Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma passed away last night from a cardiac arrest, leaving a big void in the classical music industry and the hearts of his admirers.
The musical legend and Maestro of santoor, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma passes away from a sudden cardiac arrest in Mumbai. He was suffering from several diseases and kidney damage for the past six months and was on the treatment for dialysis.
He was 84 years old and his wife and children helped him survive. Manorama and her sons Rahul and Rohit are still in shock and so are his admirers around the world. This versatile personality brought santoor to that extent where it competed with sarod, sitar, and many other classical stringed instruments at the epitome of everyone’s attention.
Santoor originated from the folk musical traditions of Jammu Kashmir but Pt. Shiv Kumar put ample global exposure on it. The path chosen by Pandit Shiv Kumar was long and troublesome as he tried to fit an instrument into the complex world of raga and riyaz while it was originally used for Sufiana mausiqi or Sufi Music.
Though this music artist faced a lot of criticism, his ardent passion for santoor and showing the diverse sides of it; Pandit Shiv Kumar has gone beyond everyone’s expectations. He created enough embellishments and popularity like other string instruments without losing their originality. Never for once, this artist has tried to imitate other instruments through santoor.
Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma made some extraordinary experimentation with santoor without talking about it much and his humble self is what made him a prolific maestro of this instrument.
Ustad Shujaat Khan, the Grammy Award winner sitar exponent said about Pt. Sharma “He was the voice that every Indian classical musician should have in his head. I am not qualified to comment on his greatness – that’s for the world to see.”
He further showed his respect by saying, “I was not his student and didn’t learn from him, but I have immense respect and affection for him and I pray that one day, I can be like him. Of course, I am Vilayat Khan’s son, but temperamentally, I have always followed Shiv ji. He was my last hero,”
The santoor legend had teamed up with Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia and worked on many soundtracks of Bollywood movies such as, ‘Silsila’, ‘Chandni’, ‘Faasle’, etc to name some. His timeless compositions will always resonate with his fans’ hearts.
The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray has announced a state funeral for Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma at Pawan Hans with full honor.
Aarohi Agarwal is a blogger and part-time singer. When she is not writing about music and musicians on Daily Music Roll, she is singing her heart out. Also, an avid horror story reader and lover of dogs.