Ripples of melody
Shivji was born in Jammu and began his journey through the world of music at the age of five when he learnt vocals and tabla from his father Pandit Umadutt Sharma of the Benaras Gharana.
Shivji spoke very highly about his mentor and father, “He was vocalist but could also play the tabla and harmonium. Santoor was then played in the genre of Sufiyana Mousiqui in Kashmir. My father thought it could also be used to play Hindustani classical music .” And thus began Santoor’s journey to immortality.
Pandit Shivkumar Sharma further established santoor as an abiding presence in Indian classical music. His initial struggle was full of challenges. He said, “when I started playing in a national concert in 1955, it was after a long journey during which I had brought in a lot of character to the instrument and had incorporated a lot of modifications in the playing technique.”
From a scratch
When he started playing the santoor there was no reference point. Nobody had played it before on such a big platform. He had to establish its presence from the scratch. But by the middle of the 1960s, santoor had got recognition worldwide.
Pandit Sharma did not choose to play santoor but was chosen to play it by his father. If he had a choice he would have played the tabla. He said passionately, “I was learning both vocals and tabla but tabla really fascinated me.
In the 50s, I played the tabla with a lot of artists like Pandit Ravi Shankar and Begum Akhtar. At one point of time, I played both tabla and santoor. But later I had to choose one of them and, I took to santoor.”
Shivji listens to all genres of music from folk, classical to qawali and said humbly, “A musician is always learning. Even while teaching my students, I am learning. While listening to a different genre of music, one is learning. A musician should be open to any form of music which has melody and rhythm and emotions.”
Shivji is also very fastidious about the right combination for a jugalbandi performance. He said, “Santoor and flute make for the perfect combination. So many factors are responsible for the right harmony between two instruments including the professional and personal understanding between the musicians.”
He also recalled having played with great joy, along with percussionists from the Carnatic classical music genre. According to him, fusion is perfect combination of two different genres and not confusion.
Pandit Shivkumar Sharma explained its history in the context of India and said, “It started in India more than 60 years ago in the hindi film industry. Many songs were based on classical raagas but the melody and the orchestration were like the symphony orchestra. There were cellos, violins, sarangi, tabla, dholak, sitar, pianos.. so many instruments which ushered in the beginning of fusion in the world, not only in India.
There are music directors like SD Burman who brought folk from Bengal and Assam, OP Nayyar, Jayadevji who brought folk music from Punjab, Madan Mohan composed raaga based songs with western orchestra. Now when two instruments come together we say it is fusion but I think it started, a long time back.”
He continued, “Just as any combination between two different colours will bring out some new colour, in fusion music also two genres of music combined together must have feelings, melody and rhythm. Only then, that fusion is welcome. Otherwise, it will just become confusion.”
The biggest challenge, says Panditji, “was to establish santoor. A musician is never satisfied.The hunger for perfection is always very important.”
Shivji considers riyaaz as a form of meditation and consistently pursues it even while flying or sitting with friends. He said, “No matter wherever you are, music is going on in your head. You might be in the flight, with friends but if a good tune plays in your mind, you get engrossed in it and forget about your friends also. Total involvement is what real riyaaz is all about.”
Finally the maestro expressed his love for the greenery in Bangalore and its receptive audience which has fascinated him for the last 35 years. He concluded, “I look forward to perform here again. Bangalore is a great city.”