Tributes pour in for santoor legend Pandit Shivkumar Sharma

Renowned santoor player and celebrated musician Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, who took the folk instrument to the global stage, breathed his last in Mumbai today. He was the recipient of the Padma Shri in 1991 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2001.

“My father was my guruji. 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,” Rahul Sharma told media.

He added that the musician was suffering from age-related issues. “He was 83. We had done a concert together 15 days ago, everything was fine. He passed away peacefully.”

Write, art curator and documentarian Ina Puri, his biographer, recalled her long association with the music maestro and said, “It’s unbelievable. I am still hoping and praying it’s not true. I’ve known him since the early 90s. He had commissioned me to do his memoir which we wrote jointly, Journey with a Hundred Strings: My Life in Music. Since then, there has been an association. We have worked together. I have documented his life in the pages of the book as well as in the documentary directed by Jabbar Patel.”

Sharing the unseen facets of the musician, Puri told indianexpress.com, “He had so much scholarly knowledge but he wore it lightly. He was a wonderful company and had a great sense of humour. All the memories come back now – his love for jokes, mimicry, and good food. He was also a great cricket fan. The other side of Shiv Ji, which I had the privilege of knowing, was his wife, family.”