The thrill of a hundred strings
BOMBAY :
Shivkumar Sharma has elevated the santoor to the position of an eloquent
solo medium. Mohan Nadkarni profiles this classicist who was awarded
the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
The revival and socialisation of the classical arts is a distinctive feature of India's post-freedom renaissance. This is especially the case with music. It is seen that many educated youngsters, whose academic achievements would have brought them success, have taken to music as a serious lifework rather than a simple side activity.
Take the case of Shivkumar Sharma, who figures among the recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards for classical music. He was born and brought up in a musical environment in Jammu. His educationist father Uma Dutt Sharma was himself a musician by choice and his grooming was in the Benaras gharana. He also experimented with any instrument that came his way.
The discerning father saw in the precocious youngster the makings of a future virtuoso, and he encouraged him in musical pursuit side by side with his academic studies. In time, Shivkumar bagged a bachelor's degree in English Literature and a master's degree in Economics.
Curiously, Shivkumar's first love was the tabla, and under the guidance of his father he acquired a winsome command over the instrument. Yet he had to switch over to santoor at his father's request. Santoor was basically a folk instrument widely in vogue as an accompaniment to singing in the Kashmir valley.
Besides, he also realised that the santoor with all its 100 strings, has a limited tonal scope. But the father encouraged him to undertake a series of experiments on the santoor so as to secure a truly wider range of expressiveness. After years of relentless research and experimentation, Shivkumar was able to impart dignity and grace to his santoor.
I remember the initial reaction of the audience to the santoor versions of the classical melodies when the instrument first made it's appearance on the classical platform in 1960. Understandably and predictably it was mixed. I was myself one of those who shared this reaction. To the manner born, however, Shivkumar did not rest content with the concert appearance of his instrument. He continued his quest towards extending the scope of the santoor to wider horizons of musical form and design- from the truly classical to the lilting sensitive varieties.
Shivkumar Sharma now enjoys world acclaim. He has created an audience of his own that is eager and willing to jostle its way to the concert hall anytime he chooses to perform. In a sense, he has realised his ambition to do for his santoor what the late maestro, Pannalal Ghosh, did for the flute--transform it into an eloquent solo medium.
Indeed his approach to music entitles him to be called a pioneer. His treatment of his chosen raga is pure. He takes no liberties with its form, design or content. It is indeed amazing that he invests his alapi With all his correct virtues of the traditional dhrupad style. His command over swara and laya and more particularly the way he maintains a balance between them, marks him out as a topnotch virtuoso. However intricate his chhand and complex his layakari, the tonal purity always remains intact. Above all, he never resorts to gimmickry.
Tall, fair and handsome, Shivkumar Sharma is also known for his engaging manner and sunny disposition. It can even be said that his santoor music reflects his personality. There is still significant segment of hardboiled connoisseurs who do not take kindly to the santoor as a viable classical instrument. And Shivkumar is aware of this fact. But it is equally true that the santoor happens to be among the three most popular instruments and vies with the sitar and sarod as a solo medium in the concert halls. That surely is an index of its tremendous impact on our present day audiences.
By Evening News of India
©COPYRIGHT 1997 Shivkumar Sharma Associates