It goes without saying that Rahul Sharma is one of the finest young musicians in India. The son of living legend, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Rahul is taking his father’s legacy forward and also pushing the envelope with his fusion music. He has collaborated with some of the greatest western musicians of our time like French pianist Richard Clayderman, and American saxophonist Kenny G.
The show revealed a lot of facts about santoor and about Rahul. Excerpts:
Santoor's origins
The santoor was originally called Shata Tantri Veena. In Sanskrit, it means a 100 stringed veena. It was found in Kashmir and has been around for centuries. Rahul’s santoor has 93 strings and he spends a lot of time tuning it.
Rahul’s roots
Rahul’s grandfather Pandit Uma Dutt Sharma gave the santoor to his father Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and asked him to play it. At that time, the santoor was played as an accompaniment to Sufi singing in Kashmir.
Rahul’s grandfather wanted his son to convert this Sufiana and folk instrument into a classical one and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma has achieved precisely that. The santoor is today a frontline solo classical instrument.
Passion for santoor
For someone who comes from a musical family, Rahul began learning the santoor relatively late. He started learning from his father at the age of 13 and started accompanying him to concerts at the age of 24.
According to Rahul, he took some time to figure out his true calling in life. He admits that as a child, he was confused just like other kids are.
But he is glad that eventually the genetics got the better of him!
Spiritual connection
Rahul has played the santoor in many spiritual contexts. He has performed before many spiritual luminaries like Sri Sathya Sai Baba, the Dalai Lama and the head of Chinmaya Mission, Swami Tejomayananda as well.
He believes whatever he is today is because of his father and his belief in divinity.
Fusion music
Rahul’s focus has always been on classical music. But he has also introduced the santoor to world music. Rahul’s notable collaborations have included one with the highest selling pianist in the world, Richard Clayderman even though they did not speak the same language.
Rahul says, “Richard hardly speaks at all. He is very silent and quiet. But Richard was someone Rahul had listened to for a long time. And when he got the opportunity to work with him, he was simply thrilled.
They composed an album called The Confluence and then The Confluence 2. The Confluence has been one of the highest selling instrumental albums in the world.” Rahul has also collaborated with Grammy winning saxophonist, Kenny G.
When Rahul’s father heard about this collaboration, he did not welcome the idea. He felt that santoor and saxophone can’t blend together until he heard their album Namaste India. He loved it and still hears it quite often.
Rahul has also worked with Grammy winning band, Deep Forest. He has been a huge fan of the band. He says, “Eric Mouquet from the band was one of the first guys who brought tribal music to the forefront and added his electronica to it. We worked on an album two years ago and it was called Deep India. The idea was to take folk music from all over India, from Assam, Jammu and Kashmir etc and add electronica to it. We had 10 tracks and worked on highlighting the passion, the emotion that is there in folk music.”
Next project
Rahul is slated to perform in Turkey soon. He is very excited about performing at the birthplace of Rumi. He has done about 60 albums so far and is taking a break. But he is mainly enjoying the thrill of stage concerts right now.
(This weekend, Art Talk with Jujhar Singh will have one of the top young Sitar players of India, Purbayan Chatterjee. The show is on Saturday 9:55 pm, Sunday 1:25 pm & 10:25 pm - on NewsX channel)