Santoor maestro Shivkumar Sharma dies at 84

MUMBAI: Santoor virtuoso Pt Shivkumar Sharma, who took the stringed instrument to the global stage and successfully straddled the worlds of classical and film music, died here on Tuesday following a heart attack. He was 84.

Sharma, one of India’s most well-known classical musicians, died between 8 and 8.30 am at his Pali Hill residence here, his secretary Dinesh said.

He had been active till the end and was due to perform in Bhopal next week. He was also suffering from renal ailments.

“He had a severe heart attack in the morning... He was active and was to perform in Bhopal next week. He was on regular dialysis but was still active,” a family source said.

Sharma, one half of the famous ‘Shiv-Hari’ composer duo along with flautist Hari Prasad Chaurasiya, is survived by his wife Manorama and sons Rahul, also a santoor player, and Rohit. The ShivHari duo composed music for an array of films such as Silsila, Lamhe, Chandni and Darr.

A Padma Vibhushan recipient, Sharma was born in Jammu in 1938 and is believed to be the first musician to have played Indian classical music on the santoor, a folk instrument from Jammu and Kashmir.

Describing his father as his ‘guruji’, Rahul said the end was peaceful.

“He is not with us anymore but his music lives on. He went away peacefully. He has given the entire world his music, peace through his music and what he did for santoor... it’s now known across the world.

“His music will always live on. He will be with us through his music. He had age related issues. We had done a concert together 15 days ago, everything was fine. He passed away peacefully,” Rahul told reporters outside his home.

Durga Jasraj, daughter of the late classical vocalist Pandij Jasraj and a close friend of Sharma, said the santoor legend

Sad to know about the demise of Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, eminent Santoor player and internationally celebrated Indian music composer. His departure impoverishes our cultural world. My deepest condolences fainted in the bathroom and was “gone in a fraction of a second”.

“I have lost my second father. I have been trying to coordinate all the other arrangements but what happened is that he fainted in the bathroom in the morning and that was a cardiac arrest and he could not be revived.

“We called for the ambulance and everything but he was gone in a fraction of a second. In a way, he went peacefully at home,” she said.

Sharma’s secretary added the mortal remains will be kept at the Pali Hill home. At 10 am on Wednesday, the body will be shifted to the Abhijit Cooperative Housing Society in Juhu for “public darshan” till 1 pm. The last rites will be held at Pawan Hans Crematorium in Vile Parle.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s office said in a statement that Sharma will be accorded a state funeral.