Jammu on Tuesday mourned the demise of its son—Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma—the internationally acclaimed santoor maestro.
The Dogra music composer and santoor maestro passed away in Mumbai at the age of 84. He had been suffering from kidney-related ailments for the last six months and he died of cardiac arrest on Tuesday.
Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board condoled the death of its ex-member. Paying homage, Anshul Garg, chief executive officer of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, recalled Sharma’s long association with the board from 2015 to 2019 and his significant contributions to the creation of pilgrim-centric facilities.
Some of the major achievements of the Board in infrastructure development during his tenure as a member, inter alia, include the commissioning of major projects like SMVD Narayana Super-speciality Hospital, SMVD Sports Complex and SMVD College of Nursing besides, several new facilities for the convenience of the visiting pilgrims such as passenger ropeway from Bhawan to Bharion, material ropeway from Siar Dabri to Bhawan, alternate Tarakote Marg from Katra to Adhkuwari and Re-modelling project of Adhkuwari.
The board also extended its deepest condolences to his family.
The Jammu and Kashmir high court bar association (Jammu chapter) held an emergent meeting under the chairmanship of its president MK Bhardwaj to express grief over the sudden passing away of the great son of Jammu and Kashmir and the national icon.
MK Bhardwaj described Panditji as a top-class exponent of santoor and a tall Dogra icon who took both Dogra culture and scarcely know the musical instrument of santoor to greater heights.
“In Panditji’s demise, Jammu and Kashmir and Jammu, in particular, has lost a true ambassador of the Dogra culture and ethos. The world of classical and film music has been orphaned by his passing away,’ said Bhardwaj.
He appealed to the LG Manoj Sinha to take appropriate steps to honour the memory of Panditji. Apart from naming a road both in Jammu and Kashmir, as santoor unites the two regions, after him a music institute at the international level should be established in his name in Jammu also.
The Jammu-born musician, also a Padma Vibhushan recipient, was the first musician to have played Indian classical music on the santoor, a folk instrument from Jammu and Kashmir.
Sharma composed the background music for one of the scenes in Shantaram’s film “Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje” in 1956. He recorded his first solo album in 1960. He was all set to perform in Bhopal next week.
The classical exponent had a severe heart attack at around 9 am on Tuesday. He was born in Jammu’s Panjtirthi in the old city to the singer Uma Dutt Sharma. His father started teaching him vocals and tabla when he was just five. He started learning santoor at the age of 13 and gave his first public performance in Mumbai in 1955. Sharma married Manorama and has two sons.