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Born and brought up in Jammu in a house where from dawn to dusk
someone or the other was playing an instrument, Shiv Kumar began
his musical life as a tabla player under the tutelage of his
father Pandit Uma Dutt of the Banaras gharana. One day
when he was fourteen his father brought from Srinagar a santoor
and announced that he had found his son’s true calling. The
bemused boy looked at the instrument traditionally used only in
Kashmiri sufiana music. He worked day and night to
overcome the snags in this instrument and made several changes
to adapt it for Hindustani ragas. The result is musical
history.
In this memoir the
artiste recalls his eventful years at Bombay, where he
established his credentials. The turning point in this journey
came in February1955 through the good office of Dr Karan Singh
who managed an invitation for the young artiste to perform at
the prestigious Hari Das Sangeet Sammelan in Bombay. It was a
gathering of such luminaries as Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Amir
Khan, Pt Omkar Nath Thakur, Pt Vinayak Rao Patwardhan, Kesarbai
Kelkar, Mongubai Kurdikar, Pannalal Ghosh, Ustad Bismillah Khan,
Ustad Allauddin Khan and numerous others. It is nice indeed to
recall big names who participated in this sammelan, but it is
equally painful to see that a lot of names of illustrious
artistes such as Ustad Ahmed Jan Thrikava, Krishna Rao Shankar
Pandit, Ganga Prasad Pathak, Bhimsen Joshi are missing. By such
omission an aspersion inadvertently has been cast, which is
totally unjustified.
Besides, there are
a few factual errors, such as Krishan Maharaj has been described
as the son of Kanthe Maharaj. Not withstanding these flaws,
there is no denying the fact that Hari Das Sammelan brought
laurels for Shiv Kumar Sharma, where he performed exceeding
well, accompanied on the tabla by the legendary Ustad
Allah-Rakha Khan. This was obviously a moment of great
excitement for him. Coming as he did from a small peaceful town
like Jammu, the success opened the floodgates. He was asked to
provide background score for Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje by
V. Shantaram.
Shiv Kumar somehow
managed to resist temptations of accepting lucrative offers and
returned to Jammu to pursue his studies. After his studies he
returned to Bombay where he achieved great success both in the
field of films and as an outstanding santoor player. The life
chronicled here is a remarkable series of relationships and
encounters: guru-shishya bond, life-long friendships,
dazzling jugal bandis and, of course, musical rivalries,
good natured and otherwise.
Another very
interesting fact that emerges is the artiste’s sense of
gratitude. He acknowledges with reverence the contribution made
by Pandit Ravi Shankar, Pandit Jasraj, Pandit Hari Prasad
Chaurasia and Ustad Zakir Hussain in enriching his performance
and making him popular in audiences all over the country. His
entire success in Calcutta he owes to Pandit Jasraj.
Shiv Kumar is
eloquent in paying tributes to his well-wishers and friends. But
he has not been fair to certain artistes. He has projected the
tabla wizard Ustad Habibudin Khan in dim light. But on the whole
this is a remarkable book that could be a source of inspiration
for scholars and students of Indian classical music.
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THIS
book unfolds vivid glimpses of a sentimental journey of santoor
maestro Shiv Kumar Sharma from a humble beginning to dizzy heights.
In a way it is a story of anguish and joy of this great artiste who
has succeeded, like Ustad Bismillah Khan in the case of shahnai, in
achieving the same status for santoor in the world of Indian
classical music. Though sceptical initially, all stalwarts, both
vocalists and instrumentalists, have acknowledged santoor is a
complete instrument for rendering classical music.
