Indian music composer and santoor maestro Pandit Shivkumar Sharma passed away in Mumbai today on May 10. He was 84-years-old and was suffering from kidney-related issues for the last six months and was on dialysis. He passed away due to cardiac arrest. His funeral will take place in Mumbai.
Born in Jammu, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma was instrumental in giving santoor a household name and classical status and exalted it along with other more traditional and famous stringed musical instruments such as sitar, veena and sarod. He began learning santoor at the age of 13 and gave his first public performance in Mumbai in 1955.
Our cultural world is poorer with the demise of Pandit Shivkumar Sharma Ji. He popularised the Santoor at a global level. His music will continue to enthral the coming generations. I fondly remember my interactions with him. Condolences to his family and admirers. Om Shanti.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 10, 2022
Pandit Shivkumar Sharma also composed music for several Hindi films and gave background music for 1956 film Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje. As one half of Shiv-Hari, he composed music with flute legend Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and gave music for iconic films such as Silsila, Lamhe, Chandni, Darr among others.
He collaborated with Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and guitarist Brij Bhushan Kabra in 1967 to produce the acclaimed concept album Call of the Valley.
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