Obituary: Shivkumar Sharma (1938-2022)

Shivkumar Sharma, who has died aged 84, was synonymous with the santoor, and the santoor with him. He was a mesmerising performer and acclaimed film composer, but his extraordinary achievement was to reinvent a folk instrument and play it with such a consummate touch that it became accepted on the concert stage as a medium for Indian classical ragas.

He grew up in Jammu, learning tabla (on which he would also perform at a high level) and vocal music, before at 14 taking up the Kashmiri santoor. This hundred-stringed hammered dulcimer was used by Sufi communities in the Kashmir valley. Sharma made revolutionary changes to the instrument to make it suitable for classical music, revamping the strings, discarding its wooden stand and pioneering a new mallet technique.

He played santoor on hundreds of film soundtracks in Mumbai. But his great love was classical music, which he viewed as a spiritual practice. A breakthrough was the album Call of the Valley, a global hit recorded with flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia and guitarist Brijbushan Kabra. His first international tour followed in 1968. Later he formed a hugely successful partnership with Chaurasia as Bollywood music directors. ‘Shiv-Hari’ scored eight films in the 1980s, and their song ‘Rang Barse’ from Silsila is today a ubiquitous Holi anthem. In concert Sharma mostly preferred to perform solo, but Shiv-Hari’s occasional live duets were not to be missed.

Everyone liked Shivkumar. Dignified and gracious, this master will be missed by the whole Indian music fraternity as much as his adoring public. Now the torch passes on to another generation; his own disciples include his son, Rahul, and Satish Vyas.