On the opening day of the ITC SRA Sangeet Sammelan, Kolkata, the fans cheered santoor maestro Pandit Shivkumar Sharma as the living legend came forward to receive the ITC Award 2018. It was apparent that 80 years sit lightly on his tall, slender frame; his fair handsome face was strikingly noticeable due to the silver-grey hair which sits on his crown like a divine halo. While the citation was being read, he stood with clasped hands and a quiet distant look in his eyes – apparently, untouched by the fanfare. Later, he clarified by quoting his father-guru, Pandit Uma Dutt Sharma, who had advised him not to listen to praises, ‘ek kaan se sun kar doosre se nikaal dena chaiye’.
Even otherwise, his quietly elegant demeanour always leaves an impression that he is very reserved, almost withdrawn. But to friends like Pandit Vijay Kichlu, the founder-director of Sangeet Research Academy, who are closely associated with him, he is very warm, witty; a jovial mimic, who leaves one in splits, and extremely helpful. His award-acceptance speech had a touching tinge of nostalgia as he recalled his association with Kichlu and this Academy since its inception in 1978.
“This has thrown me back to the last century,” he reminisced fondly. “There used to be a specially crafted bus without seats while sitting and lying in its belly and exchanging musical ideas after each recital, eminent musicians along with the SRA-Gurus and scholars used to cover the length and breadth of India to reach our traditional music in the subcontinent’s remotest corners. Aajkal aisa nahin hota though such vision is very much needed for the propagation of classical music and to create opportunities for the aspiring musicians.”
One wondered if that kind of bonhomie is possible in this era when personal comforts take precedence what with the prevalent star system and hectic schedules of the veterans which were unheard of in those days. Besides, the widely known life-story of Shivji reveals that this was not the sole launching pad of his illustrious career. His own grit and passion to achieve something unique on the suggestion of his father whose vision and faith had helped him to bring santoor, a folk instrument related to the Sufiana music of Kashmir, to the classical concert stage.
Once he left Jammu to test the waters in Bombay (1950s), the strife-ridden days there offered him several options – owing to his music-related closeness to the film world, owing to his good looks and perhaps, owing to his enchanting art of mimicry – he was offered acting roles in films as well. “Khwaja Ahmed Abbas wished to cast me as one of the heroes in Saat Hindustani. I was 22. Now when I look back I feel that a divine force guided me to decline.”
Undoubtedly, classical music was his life’s beacon starting from his early stint as an established tabla player to his transformation as a young santoor virtuoso, A deeply spiritual person, he believes that though rituals lead to discipline and, ultimately, to spirituality; both are different. Practising music is a ritual, but understanding raga, the inner core of classical music, is spirituality. He remained focused on music to straddle parallel careers as an innovative classical musician and also as an extremely popular composer-director of film music. During a conversation, he very candidly discusses both the aspects of his musical personality.
Raga music
“Indian classical arts are meant to transform the self as spirituality is woven into its tapestry. I did not have to acquire this from an outside source. As a toddler, I was revealed to this knowledge at home. Though my father was a vocalist belonging to Banaras gharana, my grandfather was a Raj Pandit of Jammu and Kashmir. Many pundits and yogis would come to our house. I heard them say and realised later that sangeet and yoga are two faces of the same coin . Dhyaan or meditation means introspection. Music was and is an easy tool to meditate. Our seers realised this while singing Vedic Mantra and discovered Om, the original sound of the universe. Om is one word the pronunciation of which does not touch any part of the mouth. Then the concept of seven notes emerged due to their association with the seven chakras (energy centres) within our body. There are so many scientific researches being done all over the world but there is no one who created the eighth note,” elaborates Sharma.
Due to its direct link with sadhana leading to the inner voice, Sharma underlines, our music is essentially solo. “When this music arrived in courts – the element of entertainment crept in. Despite the entertainment quotient, solo singing or playing is connected with spirituality. Kharaj ki sadhana is a gayak’s privilege. I learnt singing and tabla. And while playing I keep singing. Strokes cannot be played through fingers. Swar dil se nikalta hai. While playing, I actually feel the music within me and sing through my instrument. That is why I often say, music need not be understood, it demands to be felt internally.”
He is one of those charismatic musicians who can literally draw on the canvas of space and silence with the tune, tone, notes and rhythmic lilt very easily. He proved this once again on the evening while delineating raga Jhinjhoti followed by a Pahadi dhun. The sweet, romantic raga made its presence felt even when the santoor was being tuned; and different angles of its persona unfurled petal by petal during the raga elaboration at the touch of the kalam (strikers) that adhered to his classic playing technique which, very reverentially accepts the limitations of the instruments and yet crafts the palpable bends of the essential meends, gamaks, andolans, etc.
However, like all other instruments, santoor too has its strong points. The most powerful one, according to the master, is its faithful adherence to shrutis. “A vocalist can adhere to the raga-vachak shrutis while doing alaap at a slow pace, but what about the taans? Once I tune up according to the raga, the shrutis stay in place even while I play fastest of fast taans. This pristine purity of microtones is not possible while singing taans,” he clarifies. On this occasion, the concluding dhun effortlessly painted the serene expanses of a valley surrounded by mountains with its narrow winding pathways easily negotiated by village belles who flock around streaming down rivulets to do the mundane chores with great abandon.
Sharma shares the secret of this on-stage charisma by adding, “Even now I meditate before a concert. Once on stage, I surrender myself before my guru and God. I get an extra energy by doing so. They take over and play through me. I become a drashta – an onlooker. The drashta or sakshi bhaav is a spiritual practice. We normally say without thinking ‘Aaj mera sar dukh raha hai’. Who is saying this? Me; the spirit within the body. When I do the riyaaz, I listen to it dispassionately like a witness. That helps correct oneself with the help of Guru who can guide one to some extent. Guru ke anukaran se baat nahin banti.”
Art of composing music
The art of composing music cannot be taught. It is a gift of God. The urge springs up from within and transforms into a shape,” says this hugely gifted composer. He entered the world of film music like a whirlwind after his debut on a classical stage in Bombay (1955) that was noticed by the film world as well. Immediately, eminent film director V Shantaram signed him up to compose the background music for one of the scenes in his magnum opus ‘Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje’, a film based on dance (1956). There is no looking back ever since. This definitely took santoor far and wide and helped immensely to popularise its unique sound-scape in the classical arena as well.
“Both are diagonally different,” he candidly admits. “Classical music is recalling the raga in different ways. In films, a sequence is given for musical interpretation which is static. If a record is not ok, one has to keep on playing the same piece a hundred times. Most of the great composers relied on classical music and created raga or folk-based melodies. Our composition ‘Dekha Ek Khwab To Yeh Silsile Huye’ is based on a Jammu-folk, while ‘Rang Barse’ is a folk song from Uttar Pradesh.”
His urge to explore new vistas led him to team up with eminent flautist and guitarist friends Hariprasad Chaurasia and Brij Bhushan Kabra and ‘Call of the Valley’ a concept album (1967) took both classical and film worlds by storm. A decade later the Shiv-Hari duo emerged as one of the greatest music composers with several hits to their credits. Starting from the super hit ‘Silsila’ (1980), the list is on the fingertips of every music lover. But they did not get these hits on a platter. The ‘classical’ stamp often posed problems too! Kishore Kumar the most sought after the singer of 1980s had refused to work under their direction. The naturally gifted singer knew that it is never so easy to stay simple while in possession of the vast riches of knowledge. He had to be convinced with the ‘easy’ flow of melody, and the rest is history.