Shivkumar Sharma

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Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (born January 13, 1938) is an Indian classical musician, working in the Hindustani classical music tradition. He is a master of the santoor, a folk instrument from the valley of Kashmir. It is a type of hammered dulcimer whose strings are struck with a pair of light carved wooden mallets.

In the early decades of the twentieth century, the santoor or shata-tantri veena as it was called in earlier times, was used as an accompaniment to a specific type of singing called sufiana mausiqi. When Pandit Uma Dutt Sharma, a renowned vocalist from Jammu and a disciple of Pandit Bade Ramdasji of Benares gharana discovered the instrument, he became interested by its possibilities. After extensive research on the instrument he passed on to his only son Shivkumar the responsibility of establishing it on the concert platform.

Shivkumar Sharma is the master instrumentalist of the santoor, after some years as a student of the tabla and as a vocalist. He is credited with single-handedly making the santoor a popular classical instrument, to the extent that the santoor and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma are synonymous. Sharma modified the Kashmiri folk instrument to make it more suitable for his classical technique, increasing the range of the instrument to three full octaves and making it capable of a smoother meend (the glissando or gliding between notes required in Hindustani classical music to emulate the human voice). Besides, he also created a new technique of playing with which he could sustain notes and maintain sound continuity.

Sharma has performed many concerts with renowned musicians such as the tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain. He has also partnered with well-known flautist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia to form a group called Shiv-Hari for composing Hindi film music. His son Rahul is also a santoor player. Rahul started accompanying his father in concerts in 1996, at the age of 24. In 1999 they released Sampradaya on Real World Records.

Shivkumar Sharma is the recipient of many national and international awards including honorary citizenship of the city of Baltimore, USA (1985), Sangeet Natak Academy Award (1986), Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar (1990), Honorary Doctorate from the University of Jammu (1991), Padmashree (1991), Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan Award (1998), and Padma Vibhushan (2001).

[edit] Life and career

1938 Born in Jammu on January 13
1943 Under the tutelage of his father, Pandit Uma Dutt, Sharma starts learning vocal music, tabla and instruments other than the santoor
1950 Starts learning santoor from his father
1955 Persuaded by Dr. Karan Singh, gives his first public performance of the santoor at the Sur Singar Samsad's Swami Haridas Sammelan in Bombay
Starts working on the modifications on the santoor over the period of the next 10 years
Works with music director Vasant Desai and composes and plays several pieces for V. Shantaram's film, Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje
Works with several music directors over the next 25 years
1960 First longplaying album released by HMV
1967 Call of the Valley, a raga-based thematic album is released. It is to become the largest selling album of Indian Classical music
1980 Composes the full musical score of Yash Chopra's film Silsila with Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, as part of the musical duo Shiv-Hari
1985 Named honorary citizen of the city of Baltimore
1986 Receives the Sangeet Natak Akademi's Award
1987 Nazr-E-Khusro, the Amir Khusro Society of America's Award for his contribution to Indian Classical Music
1990 Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskari (Mumbai)
1990 Shatatantri Shiromani (Jodhpur)
1991 Receives the Padmashri Award
1994 Receives the honorary doctorate of letters from Jammu University
1996 Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan Award
1996 Raagmala Society of Toronto honors him for his outstanding contributions as India's musical ambassador at-large
1997 The musical legend of the Sharma family continues with the impressive debut of Rahul Sharma, Shivkumar's younger son, in the concert halls of India and abroad.
2001 Pandit Shivkumar Sharma received "Padma Vibushan" the second highest award given to a citizen of India.