Legendary Indian music composer and santoor maestro Pandit Shivkumar Sharma passes away in Mumbai. He was 84.
He had been suffering from kidney-related issues for the last six months and was on dialysis. He passed away due to cardiac arrest.
Once a little known instrument from Jammu and Kashmir, Sharma gave santoor a classical status.
Born on January 13, 1938, in Jammu, Pandit Shivkumar was trained as a singer and tabla player by his father Uma Dutt Sharma, who was an accomplished Hindustani vocalist and musician.
He started learning santoor, a popular classical instrument, at the age of thirteen under his guidance and gave his first public performance in Mumbai in 1955.
Pandit Shivkumar was awarded the Padma Shri in 1991 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2001.
As one half of Shiv-Hari, he composed music with flute legend Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia for an array of films such as Silsila, Lamhe and Chandni among others.