Santoor to fuse with jazz
R. Balaji
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The monsoon inspires all artistes, says Shiv Kumar Sharma who was in the city recently.
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To the maestro, music is multidimensional. Photos: D. Gopalakrishnan
Musicians are mostly synonymous with the instruments they wield. But in the case of santoor, the obscure instrument has acquired a global identity because of the man wielding it.
Shata-Tantri Veena as it was called in the ancient times due to its 100 strings; the instrument was used as an accompaniment for devotional music until it vanished from the scene due to passage of time. But in the early '50s, it was Shivkumar Sharma who after an extensive research modified the instrument with a new chromatic arrangement of notes and increased the range to cover three full octaves. Besides, he also created a new technique of playing the instrument, which could sustain the notes and maintain sound continuity. Thanks to Kumar, the santoor today has gained worldwide acceptance with several musicians in countries like the U.S., the U.K., Japan and Germany which have evinced keen interest to learn the ethnic Indian instrument.
"In several western countries there are now a serious effort to use santoor for compiling the jazz and rock music. Wherever, I went, people there expressed a strong desire to learn the instrument so that they could blend its unique melody with occidental music," says the maestro.
For Shiv Kumar, music is not just for mere entertainment. It is something that touches the chords of one's inner heart and spiritual soul. But he acknowledges that music means many things for many people. Only a few really understand and enjoy the ragas and intricacies involved with the music. "But there are still others who enjoy it for the sheer melody involved," says Kumar.
On his composition of music for the films, the maestro admits that there was bound to be substantial difference in the rendition. That's because for films various factors like the theme, director's vision, location and other factors have to be taken into consideration while composing the same. The ace instrumentalist's composition for films like Silsila, Lamhe, Chandni and Darr, have won rare raves in the music world.
Monsoon is a glorious season, when not only every musician, but other artistes like painters, sculptors and dancers like to revel in its beauty and draw inspiration from the rich nature and the Indian classical music," he says.
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Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
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Thiruvananthapuram
