Journey into the realms of the unknown

Auckland : Shiv Kumar Sharma is an Indian musician of infinite talent. At times , in fact, it seemed the sparkling clusters of notes he struck on the santoor were messages from Krishna himself; a quivering journey into the realms of the unknown, a limitless joy of ecstasy that ebbed and flowed with the intensity of his playing.

Sharma, we are informed, is a big cheese when it comes to Indian classical music. Rather than shack up with the Beatles in Bangor, he spent his life modifying the 3000-year-old santoor for classical playing then proving its worth to the disbelievers. A temperamental instrument, the santoor is best described as a treble thickness autoharp or zither; the 87 strings struck with a pair of curved walnut sticks.

Seated lotus-style in front of an appreciative crowd, Sharma unfolded the Jhinjhoti raga very slowly, as he wove the notes into a rhythmic framework.

Picking up the beat, tabla-player Shafaat Ahmed Khan added his own threads to this shimmering canvas; trading melody lines, cajoling Sharma into new heights of sensual pleasure. His ability to make the tabla drums talk was quite phenomenal, of master-class standard. Sharma's wife Manorama filled in the gaps with Tanpura Critical mass was reached soon into the second set, with both santoor and tabla involved in an extended jam-session, a swirling dervish of musical interplay, which soon resulted in a trance-like plateau. At the raga's peak, both Sharma and Khan seemed almost superfluous, the music having a life of its own. A standing ovation followed.

Yehudi Menuhin once spoke of the excitement and beauty of Indian music being the innocence of the rapture, the child-like freshness of wonder. Very Zen, the cynics would argue, but in the case of Sharma and Khan in full flight, also very true.

By John Saunders
EVENING STANDARD, Auckland, New Zealand.

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