New Delhi, Famous Santoor player Pandit Bhajan Sopori passed away at a hospital in Gurugram this evening. He was 9 years old and was born in the year 19 in Srinagar. His full name is Bhajan Lal Sopori and his father was also a santur player. He learned to play the santur from home. Bhajan Sopori earned a master’s degree in English literature and studied Western classical music from the University of Washington.
If we look at the work of Pandit Bhajan Sopore so far, he was the only classical musician in India who composed music for more than 3000 songs in almost all languages of the country including Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian. He composed 5 ragas in which raga laleshwari, raga patvanti, raga rnimal ranjani. He recreated various songs for the unity of the country.
He was awarded the Padma Shri in the year 2006. In the year 19, he was honored with Sangeet Natak Akademi Award. Last month, world-renowned lyricist Pandit Shivkumar Sharma died at the age of eight. He had been suffering from kidney disease for some time. He was the first artist to play Indian classical music on the santur, a traditional instrument of Kashmir.
He was also honored with the Padma Vibhushan award in 2001 for spreading the fame of Indian classical music in the country and abroad. Rahul Sharma, the son of Shivkumar Sharma, who was born in 19th Jammu, is also a well known musician like his father. He composed music in some Hindi films along with flutist Hariprasad Chaurasia, his jade was known as Shiv-Harini jade.
Paying homage to Shivkumar Sharma, renowned sarod player Amjad Ali Khan said that an era has come to an end with the demise of Shivkumar Sharma. He was a pioneer of Santoor and his contribution was unparalleled. His music will be with us forever.ss3kp
