Shivkumar Sharma

1938–2022

Pandit Shivkumar Sharma made the santoor a classical instrument. It was a Kashmiri folk zither until he rebuilt it, worked out how to sustain a note on struck strings, and played it on the concert stage against the objections of people who thought it belonged at a wedding.

With Hariprasad Chaurasia he composed Hindi film music as Shiv-Hari: Silsila, Chandni, Lamhe, Darr. Call of the Valley, recorded with Chaurasia and Brij Bhushan Kabra in 1967, is one of the best-selling Indian classical records ever made.

Dates and credits from Wikidata.