Santoor legend Pandit Shivkumar Sharma passes away

Legendary Indian music composer and santoor player Pandit Shivkumar Sharma passed away in Mumbai. He was 84. As per a report by The Indian Express, Sharma had been suffering from kidney-related issues for some time and he passed due to a cardiac arrest.Shivkumar Sharma is credited with making the santoor a popular classical instrument. He composed the background music for one of the scenes in Shantaram's film Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje in 1956. He recorded his first solo album in 1960.

In 1967, he teamed up with flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia and guitarist Brij Bhushan Kabra to produce a concept album, Call of the Valley (1967), which turned out to be one of Indian classical music's greatest hits.Further, he composed music for many Hindi films in collaboration with Hariprasad Chaurasia, starting with Silsilain 1980. They came to be known as the Shiv-Hari music duo. Some of the movies they composed music for were musical hits, such as Faasle (1985), Chandni (1989), Lamhe (1991), and Darr (1993).