Let's bring back the spirit of the golden - Page 2

February, 1998

Like Father, Like Son

: Like father, like son. For 25-yearold Rahul Sharma, son of santoor maestro Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, music was the most natural vocation in the world. And the instrument of choice? Why, the santoor, of course!

If it had not been music, Rahul could easily have walked up the ramp, selling the wares of the fashion gurus. With his curly locks and killer looks the arc lights would have simply loved him. If tabla player Zakir Hussain can bewitch the female species with a toss of his mane, Rahul can sweep them off their feet. But on a more serious note, Rahul is more of a charmer and indubitably, more media-savvy than his father. Although comparisons are various one can't help noticing the striking resemblance in their appearance. Which naturally leads to the question: Can Junior Sharma make it as big as Senior Sharma?

Pt. Shivkumar Sharma made the little known and little-played Santoor popular, not only in the country but internationally. Take any major music festival and he is bound to feature in it. But it is only recently that he has been accompanied by Rahul. The father-son jugalbandi is proving quite a sight. Not to mention music to the ears.

Rahul makes light of the comparison. "Comparisons are inevitable. But nothing to get scared of. In fact they are a big challenge. And I am enjoying it," he says casually. After Rahul's debut in the Norway Festival in 1996, the duo toured America and Canada, performing jugalbandi concerts. But Rahul performed for the first time in India only in December of last year.

Unlike most sons of musicians, Rahul began training in classical music only when he was 13. "Actually my mother was strict about the fact that I complete my education before I get into music. Being in a ICSC school (Bombay Scottish), I had a lot to study. Then I joined Mithibai College and that was when I really got time for my music lessons."

Rahul grew up listening to a lot of Pink Floyd, Sting, Enigma, and "all sorts of music." My father would never restrict me from listening to a particular type of music. I guess it helps a lot. Just because you a are classical musician it doesn't mean that you only have to listen to Amir Khan Saab and Bade Gulam Ali Saab. In fact I identify with the so-called hip youngsters of today. The only difference is that I am a classical musician."

In fact, popularising classical music among the younger generation is a top priority for Rahul. "Contrary to popular belief the hip crowd likes and enjoys classical music. Our concerts attract a lot of youngsters. Moreover for a layman who is not into classical music, the santoor sounds very soothing. Something like falling water. Very easy on the ears. Very pleasant." Rahul explains that the santoor was a 100-stringed Kashmiri folk instrument played with a mallet. Originally called Shatatantri Veena, it was played on happy occasions.

In Germany, there's a similar instrument called the Hackbrett. In Iran, it is called the santouri. And Rahul believes it's probably the gypsies who carried the instrument to the different parts of Europe.

Because it is a folk instrument, the santoor was not exactly welcomed in the Indian Classical field until Pandit Sharma popularised it. He modified it , increasing the pitch of the sound to three octaves.

Film buffs will recall Pandit Shivkumar Sharma's brush with Bollywood with films like Lamhe, Chandni and Darr. The music of these films not only caught on like wildfire but it was a melodious contrast to the cacophony that usually passes off as film music. But sadly, the duo Pt. Shivkumar Sharma and Hari Prasad Chaurasia vanished from the scene as quickly as they appeared.

Having assisted his father for the films, Rahul does not rule out composing film tunes in the future. In fact the theme tune of Chandni, was composed by him. As for fusion music, he says, "The santoor is a very soft instrument. You can blend it with the guitar but not with drums. But that's in the distant future."

And as for creating his own ragas Rahul believes "creativity just happens."



By The Times of India

Tuesday, January 13, 1998

Pt. Shivkumar Sharma is 60 and still making the santoor sing

: Pandit Shivkumar Sharma who turns 60 today will be felicitated at a special function at the Nehru Centre organised by the Lalit Kala Nidhi. This will be followed by a performance by Pandit Jasraj accompanied by Ustad Zakir Hussain.

Pandit Sharma's name is synonymous with Indian classical music, especially the santoor. "I don't feel 60 at all, but as far as the santoor goes, when I look back, it's very interesting to know what has happened over the years", reminisces the veteran, "about 45 years ago the santoor as an instrument was not known to anyone. I did not know then, what would happen to my mission of propagating the santoor as an integral part of Indian classical music."

"Everything that happened over the years was due to my father and guru, Pandit Umadutt Sharma. The senior musicians of those times would compliment me and urge me to continue with my music, but they would also tell me that I had chosen the wrong instrument," he recalls.

Learning since the age of five, he got his own santoor only at the age of twelve. However, it wasn't smooth sailing for the young musician. "There were many musicians, critics, listeners--who were of the opinion that santoor could never portray the intricacy of the alaap, due to some inherent limitations like the inability to do meend."

"My father was always the guiding force and today when I think of my journey, it's nothing short of a miracle. He passed away in 1973, but had he been amongst us today, he would have seen his dream turning into reality. My son Rahul had also started playing the santoor, and my father would surely have been a proud man today." Says Pandit Sharma.

"With any art form, there has always been a lot of experimentation. Fusion music is one such experiment. There are different kinds of fusion happening today, but if the combination is not right, not well-planned, fusion sometimes becomes more of confusion. I am not against fusion, but I am for something that creates harmony, which is soothing and lasting in its beauty." For him, the greatest inspiration comes from nature. "The mountains, springs, trees, a beautiful human being--they fascinate me."

As for all aspiring classical musicians, he has a message that there are no shortcuts to becoming a performing musician. " It's not enough to have a liking or passion for music--regular riyaaz and improvisation on mistakes are indispensable. The utmost responsibility of the generations of classical musicians to come is to preserve the heritage of this wonderful art form and the essence of it, its Indian-ness. They need to present the beauty and purity of our music with great sincerity. My blessings are always with them."

by Nishant Fadnavis The Times of India

By Bachu Vishwanath, The Times of India

Saturday, March 12, 1994

Master weaves night of Indian magic

:

Shivkumar Sharma, Government House Ballroom

Since 1955 Indian musician Shiv Kumar Sharma has worked tirelessly to give santoor credibility in the world's concert halls, as much through his extraordinary virtuosity as the changes he has made to the instrument to increase its versatility.

The santoor is related to many instruments with which the western audiences are familiar. Such as the hammered dulcimer and the Hungarian Kimball, enclosed boxes on which are strung a series of wires that are struck by mallets.

In the brief introductory talk, ShivKumar Sharma explained some of the improvements he has made to the santoor, increasing its range to three octaves and arranging the strings to enable him to play chromatically.

A program note also says that Sharma has devised new playing techniques that enable him to sustain notes.

In a significant way, Sharma continues a tradition once widespread in the West but now largely neglected except by jazz musicians and some organists.

Masters such as Handel and Beethoven and more recently organist Cesar frank, would dazzle the listeners with their ability to improvise, a skill which would be thought of as playing proceeding straight from the soloists imagination, a kind of composing as one goes along.

On this count Sharma is immensely skilled, using little wooden mallets to coax from the santoor a stream of most beguiling sound, melodically intriguing and rhythmically fascinating.

It is greatly to the credit of Sharma's persuasiveness as a musician, that despite offerings, of considerable length--on oar with say the works of Messiaen or Sorabji--his improvisation made for consistently appealing listening.

Not the least of the qualities that contributed to the overall effect of Sharma's presentation was the fastidious attention to precise tuning.

A bouquet to tabla virtuoso Shafaat Ahmed Khan. With some of the most supple and educated wrists and fingers in the business, he added a magical dimension.

Synchronisation between the santoor and the tabla was so remarkably fine, it seems as if the players are drawing on a shared musical consciousness.

Also s discreet presence was Manorama Sharma, accompanying on the tanpura, a long- necked unfretted instrument

A final word about the possibility of improving the ventilation of the Government House Ballroom.

On warm and humid nights, it becomes one of the city's least comfortable venues, as much--or ever more --for the performers as the audience. Certainly one sympathised with Sharma's need to frequently mop his brow(as did, for that matter, pianist Peter Jablonski the previous evening).

ABC-FM will broadcast the first part of Sharma's concert at 10 PM on Wednesday.

Reviewed by Neville Cohen, The West Australian

April 19, 1985

Shivkumar's santoor turns dusk into dawn

:

The Glory of Dawn (Raga Ahir Bhairav): Shivkumar Sharma (Santoor)
Zakir Hussain(Tabla).EMI ECSD 2995

It was at dusk when I played Shivkumar Sharma's LP featuring the morning melody Ahir Bhairav. So great is the emotional impact of his santoor recital and his capacity to convert the musical atmosphere prevailing in the evening into that of the day through his highly imaginative exposition of the raga. I did not get time to listen to the disc in the traditionally stipulated early hours of the day, perhaps, then it would have sounded even better, evoking deeper feelings.

Having heard this record, I feel that if rendered by a genius of an artiste, ragas traditionally earmarked for a particular period of the day or night can be enjoyed anytime.

What is more commendable is that Shivkumar could build up so much raga bhava in a short time of 50 minutes, that too with a humble folk instrument of Kashmir like santoor or shatatantri. But Shivkumar's shatatantri or 100-stringed instrument has only 87 strings.

Indeed only an artiste of Shivkumar's calibre could have brought this Kashmiri folk instrument out of the valley into the classic concert platform. Again, only a great artiste could so deftly and flawlessly manipulate a maze of 87 strings and produce varied sounds and effects. He can command at the slightest wave of his magically-musical wand, his santoor to whisper, to coo, to cry, to wail, to laugh. His strokes sometimes fall like pebbles in the water producing ripples and sometimes like cascading waterfalls letting out a roaring sound.

Here the confluence of tinkling notes right from the beginning weaves magic casements of raga Ahir Bhairav an aesthetic combination of raga Bhairav and raga Kafi.

The soft jingling strains in the slow alap movements herald the break of dawn, the rhythmic jod heightening the spirit of the day, and the vilambit and drut Teental gats portraying life with all its ups and downs. All this in just 50 minutes, proving that lengthy exposition of ragas is not needed to bring out raga bhava.

Though titled "The Glory of Dawn", the disc, in fact, is glory unto Shivkumar and his santoor and not just of raga Ahir Bhairav, which is associated with sunrise. And one truly gets into the mood of the hour even with the very first alap flourishes of the raga, coming as a whiff of fresh, cool morning air in the stillness and sweetness of nature and as dewdrops gently falling on green grass. Having dispelled the darkness and heralded sunshine, the melody progressively gains momentum through rhythmic jod and jhala and vilambit and drut gats in Teental to conjure up images of life in all its bright sunlight and shadows.

Zakir Hussain's brilliant tabla accompaniment runs in consonance with Shivkumar's ideas on santoor.

By Chandramohan Rao, Evening News of India

Friday, April 24, 1987

SHARMA: PIONEERING SANTOOR PLAYER

The hammered dulcimer-or zither --was "discovered" by most Westerners through Anton Karas' unforgettable score to the "The Third Man." Though popular in Eastern Europe, and now gaining acceptance in the West, the instrument has been around for centuries. If you could visit Ancient India or Persia, say about 1,000 years ago you would find a variation of the multi-stringed folk instrument. Back then it was called the shata tantri veena or santoor, but the 'modus operandi' always remained the same. Hold the hammer and strike. Simple. So simple that it took European craftsmen another 800 years to finally discover the wealth of sound coloration this approach offers. That discovery changed Western music. It is called the piano. In the tradition-bound world of Indian music, it has taken longer than 800 years for the santoor to make the move from folk to classical. For that bridge to be crossed, it required someone with the conviction of Shivkumar Sharma, who is generally credited with elevating the 72-string instrument to the level of respectability with the sitar and sarod. The Kashmir-based musician who appears at the Japan America Theatre tonight with tabla player Zakir Hussain, recalled recently the response that greeted his early attempts to adapt the santoor to the serious realm of raga."There was skepticism in people's mind. They felt I couldn't recreate everything classical music is meant to express." Here in the West musical crossover hardly raises eyebrows. And in Sharma's case, it is easy to see why--he changed everything but the principle of hammer-hits-string. Most hammered dulcimers are tuned in a chromatic scale, he explained. "You hit the major notes with the right and the minor ones with the left. But when I play a raga, I tune the right side to the notes of a particular scale the raga is built on. No one had done this before." Since Indian classical music relies so heavily on the prominence of these notes of the scale, this innovation was crucial in the evolution of the santoor from mere vocal accompanist to legitimate solo voice. Such a move eventually found acceptance both at home and in the concert halls around the world. But, says Sharma, it took a lot of work. "The music I play requires a total education," he said. "The talent is inborn--it must be there. Then you need training, you need a guru." He was fortunate to have one right in the house--his father, the respected vocalist Umadutt Sharma. "He started me on singing at 5, and then I switched to tablas," the younger Sharma recalled. "So, I had early training in melody and rhythm." He took the santoor at age 12 and at his father's suggestion, soon began thinking the instrument in classical terms. After more than three decades of concertizing around the world, Sharma, now 49, appreciates the renewed seriousness of Western audiences, compared to the trendiness of the crowds a decade ago, when Indian music in general--and sitarist Ravi Shankar in particular--became the rage of the West. Though he still takes the time to explain the mechanic of the santoor to American audiences, Sharma has never been willing to adapt his playing to suit the whims of listeners here. "When I play, first and foremost, I must satisfy myself," he said. "I gives me a certain kind of bliss, and I do enjoy sharing that bliss with my audience. But they must come up to the level my mind is."

by Marc Shulglod of
LOS ANGELES TIMES.

December 24, 1997

Rare santoor treat awaits Mumbaiites on Christmas

: MUMBAI: Noted santoor player Pandit Shivkumar Sharma will team with son Rahul in a rare jugalbandi concert in Mumbai on December 25. Apart from showcasing the father-son duo's talent, the programme aptly titled"Santoor Viraasat', will offer a pointer to the evolution and growth of the fabled instrument honed to perfection by Pandit Sharma. "I am happy that Rahul has taken on the mantle. I remember my father (the late Pandit Uma Dutt Sharma) who apart from training me in santoor , prodded me to ahead with the instrument, even as a number of prominent musicians were advising me to take to say, sitar or sarod", Pandit Sharma recalled while talking to this newspaper on the eve of the concert. "Santoor Viraasat" has been conceived and managed by 'Banyan Tree', an event management group which aims to promote classical music chiefly in the corporate sector. The concert has been sponsored by The Economic Times. The internationally acclaimed instrumentalist admitted that tutoring someone from the family was fraught with difficulties. 'The thought that Rahul will be compared with me gnaws me. Also, a son has his own ways to turn his father into an indulgent teacher," Panditji laughed "Comparisons are inevitable. That's the way it is and ought to be," countered Rahul, a commerce graduate and a die-hard admirer of Pink Floyd and the Beatles. "I have been hearing all kinds of music: 'Sting', 'Enigma', for instance. Yet, santoor is very special to me," Rahul claimed. Pandit Sharma' suspicion about his son's impeccable taste for classical music was confirmed when years ago Rahul, all of 12, outgrew his status as a 'bathroom singer' and began to sit devotedly through Panditji's santoor sessions at their Bandra residence. "I did not goad him into santoor. My only strategy was to see that he heard good music," said Pandit Sharma. It was after his graduation in early 1990s that Rahul began a long and rigorous stint under his father. "I started with Raag 'Yaman'; it is still one of my favourite raagas," Rahul declared, adding,"mastering an instrument is an incredible satisfaction". Though santoor will be his "life long love-affair", Rahul wants to try his hand at composing. "I would love to experiment with notes and laya. Rhythmic movements turn me on," he exclaimed. Rahul made the beginning when he assisted his father who had teamed up with well-known flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia to score music for Yash Chopra's Chandni and Lamhe. "Rahul has done the theme music of Chandni", says Pandit Sharma with a tinge of pride. The father-son duo performed at the Norway festival in October 1996, followed by a string of concerts in Spain, Italy, and the United States this year. "It was fun playing with papa", chortles Rahul. Adds Mahesh Babu of 'Banyan Tree', "This is going to be a glorious event. Two santoors have never happened before."

By Ambarish Mishra , The Times of India

Nice post as usual, Qwest da. Silsila songs by Shivji and Hariji are my all time favorites.

Originally posted by: Kanta80

Nice post as usual, Qwest da. Silsila songs by Shivji and Hariji are my all time favorites.

yes I am listing to him right now also good see you after a while. Hope all well with you. Yes Silsila song are great. See if it works for you.

All songs in Real format

Music: Shiv-Hari Dekha Ek Khwab Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar 228KB, 1:56 mins. Lyrics:Javed Akhtar Neela Aasman Amitabh Bachchan Lyrics:Javed Akhtar Yeh Kahan Aa Gaye Lata Mangeshkar, Amitabh Bachchan Lyrics:Javed Akhtar Neela Aasman Lata Mangeshkar Lyrics:Javed Akhtar Rang Barse Amitabh Bachchan Lyrics:Dr. Harivanshrai Bachchan Jo Tum Todo Piya Lata Mangeshkar Lyrics:Meera Bhajan Ladki Hai Ya Shola Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar Lyrics:Rajinder Krishan Khudse Jo Waada Kiya Pamela Chopra Lyrics:Nida Fazli Sar Se Sarke Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar Lyrics:Hassan Kamal Bahan Jinah Di Pakdiye Ragi Harbans Singh Party Lyrics:Traditional

Originally posted by: Dawn05

Thanks Qwestji .
that was truly golden period

Yes Dawn you are absolutely right.