SRINAGAR: Feeling elated over being conferred the Padma Shri award on Republic Day, the 80-year-old Kashmiri santoor craftsman Ghulam Mohammad Zaz said that he would have been happier had the award came to him much earlier when his grandfather, father and uncles were alive.
“I am happy to be conferred the Padma Shri award. However, I feel it has come a bit late. I would have been much happier had I been conferred the award when my grandfather, father and uncle were alive. I have learnt the craft from them and had the award been conferred to me when they were alive. It would not only have brought happiness to me but also to them as they were the bigger artists,” said the santoor maker Ghulam Mohammad Zaz.
A resident of Zaina Kadal area of downtown Srinagar, the master craftsman Zaz is the only surviving artisan making santoor in the Valley. He was conferred with the Padma Shri civilian honour on the sidelines of the Republic Day – for the field of arts.
Zaz is the last of the eighth generation of santoor makers of his family – who are known for putting together the finest santoors in the valley over the past several decades. He had started his journey as an apprentice in 1953 at the age of 12. Some of his masterpieces have been played by acclaimed Kashmiri musicians Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and Bhajan Lal Sopori.
Zaz said besides santoor, he also makes other instruments, including sarangi, rabab, dilruba, tanpura, sur bahar and tawoos, among others. “These instruments are also made in other parts of India but our instruments are the best,” he said.
Zaz is probably the last santoor maker Jammu and Kashmir will ever see. He has three daughters and none of them has taken to this field. “All my relatives are not ready to follow this craft. I am 80 years old. Till I am alive, I will continue this craft,” Zaz said. He, however, expressed hope that some artist from Kashmir would take up this craft so that it does not die.