Shivkumar Sharma-Biography, Career, Albums, Awards

Biography

The santoor, earlier a folk instrument only known by Kashmiris, is now popular in Indian classical music, thanks to Shivkumar Sharma. A legendary figure of Indian classical music, his efforts help make it more prominent in Indian popular culture.

Shivkumar Sharma was born on 13 January 1938, in Jammu. His father, Uma Dutt Sharma was a musician. He taught his son vocals and table when he was only five years old. He was then introduced to the santoor, a folk instrument from Kashmir with its origins in Persia at the age of thirteen. At the time it was quite unknown in Indian classical music. His first public santoor performance in Bombay for which he received thunderous applause from the audience.  

Family

Shiv Kumar Sharma was married to Manorama and together they had two sons, Rahul and Rohit. Rahul Sharma was taught the santoor at the age of thirteen by his father, at exactly the same age Shivkumar Sharma’s own father taught him. Shivkumar and Rahul Sharma frequently performed together. Rahul Sharma has established himself as a prominent santoor player in his own right and continues his family legacy.

Career

He started his career playing the santoor alongside his father and recorded his first album in 1960. Performing at various venues in Mumbai increased the popularity of the santoor in the Indian classical music scene at the time.

Shivkumar Sharma composed the background music for a scene in V. Shantaram’s film, Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje.

Through these performances he met some of his longest collaborators such as table player Zakir Hussain and flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia. With the latter, they performed as the duo Shiv-Hari and were one of the most successful in Indian classical music. Their 1967 album, Call of the Valley is considered by many to be the best Indian classical albums ever produced and received praise from music legends such as Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Bob Dylan and David Crosby.

Shiv-Hari composed the music for several Bollywood films, mainly those of Yash Chopra which they received further acclaim for. The first was the Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha starrer Silsila. Others included Faasle, Chandni, Lamhe and Darr.

However, he wanted to keep his focus on classical music rather than music for films. He felt that Indian classical music was not merely a form of entertainment but a spiritual experience.

Shivkumar Sharma performed actively, until his death in 2022, at the age of 81.

Shivkumar Sharma Albums

Shivkumar Sharma Awards

1- Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1986)
2- Padma Shri (1991)
3- Padma Vibhushan (2001)
4- Platinum Disc for Call of the Valley
5- Platinum Disc for the music of the film Silsila
6- Gold Disc for the music of the film Faasle
7- Platinum Disc for the music of the film Chandni
8- Pandit Chatur Lal Excellence Award (2015)

Check Out The Profiles of Some Other Indian Classical Musicians

Interesting Facts

•       In his youth Shivkumar Sharma was incredibly handsome and through his performances in Mumbai became well-connected with Bollywood early on, leading to film offers. He shared that at the age of 22 he was offered a role in the film Saat Hindustani by Khwaja Ahmed Abbas, but refused as he wanted to focus all his attention on music.
•      Aside from being frequent collaborators, he and Hariprasad Chaurasia were incredibly close friends and their friendship was incredibly strong for decades, until Shivkumar Sharma’s death.
•      Y ash Chopra was told by his peers that it would be risky to get Shiv-Hari to compose the music for Silsila. The soundtrack was very well-received and Yash Chopra would enlist the duo in several other films of his.