The Artists
Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, one of India’s most popular and revered classical musicians, is India’s greatest living santoor player. He has single-handedly brought about a revolution in the development and history of his instrument, both re-designing and re-defining it. If the santoor today needs no introduction, it is due to his work and genius, since he has brought this little-known Kashmiri folk instrument to the classical concert halls of India and the world. Born in 1938 in Jammu, Kashmir, he studied vocals, tabla and santoor with his father, the late Pandit Uma Dutt Sharma, a prominent exponent of Indian classical music. In order to achieve the subtleties of Indian classical music, Shivji, early in his career, made important modifications to his instrument: he refined the santoor to 86 strings, increased the range to cover a full three octaves, and created a new technique to masterfully sustain notes and maintain sound continuity. He has made popular and innovative recordings, including Call of the Valley, Feelings and Mountains. He made the sound of the santoor indispensable to Indian film music, composing music for such films as Silsila, Lamhe, Chandni, and Darr. He is also a dedicated teacher, imparting his knowledge in the Guru Shishya tradition to the next generation of musicians and training students from all over the world. His son and disciple Rahul Sharma has already made a name for himself as a formidable talent and performer. Since making his first public performance in 1955, Shivji has traveled throughout the world and has garnered many prestigious awards and titles, including Padma Vibhushan (2001), the Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan Award (1998), Padma Shri (1991), an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Jammu (1991), and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1986).

Zakir Hussain is today appreciated both in the field of percussion and in the music world at large as an international phenomenon. A classical tabla virtuoso of the highest order, his consistently brilliant and exciting performances have not only established him as a national treasure in his own country, India, but earned him worldwide fame. His playing is marked by uncanny intuition and masterful improvisational dexterity, founded in formidable knowledge and study. The favorite accompanist for many of India's greatest classical musicians and dancers, he has not let his genius rest there. Widely considered a chief architect of the contemporary world music movement, Zakir's contribution to world music has been unique, with many historic collaborations including Shakti, which he founded with John McLaughlin and L. Shankar in the early 1970’s, the Diga Rhythm Band, Making Music, Planet Drum with Mickey Hart, Tabla Beat Science, Sangam with Charles Lloyd and Eric Harland and recordings and performances with artists as diverse as George Harrison, Joe Henderson, Van Morrison, Airto Moreira, Giovanni Hidalgo, Pharoah Sanders, Billy Cobham, Rennie Harris and the Kodo drummers of Japan. A child prodigy, Zakir was touring by the age of twelve, the gifted son of his great father, tabla legend Ustad Allarakha. Zakir came to the United States in 1970, embarking on an international career which includes no fewer than 150 concert dates a year. He has composed and recorded many albums and soundtracks, and has received widespread recognition as a composer for his many ensembles and collaborations. He has composed soundtracks for the films In Custody and The Mystic Masseur directed by Ismail Merchant, Bertolucci’s Little Buddha, for which Zakir composed, performed and acted as Indian music advisor, Vanaprastham (The Last Dance), chosen to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May, 1999, Saaz, and Everybody Says I’m Fine. Zakir received the distinct honor of co-composing the opening music for the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, 1996. He was commissioned to compose music for Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet, and to compose an original work for the San Francisco Jazz Festival, both in 1998. He has received numerous grants and awards, including participation in the Meet the Composer programs funded by the Pew Memorial Trust and an Izzie (Isadora Duncan Award) for his composition for Lines Ballet. In 2000, Zakir worked again with choreographer Alonzo King, this time composing music for The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. In 2002, his commissioned work for choreographer Mark Morris’ “Kolam” premiered as part of Yo Yo Ma’s “Silk Road Project” with Yo Yo and Zakir performing together live for the performance. In September, 2006, Triple Concerto for Banjo, Bass and Tabla, a piece co-composed by Zakir, Edgar Meyer and Bela Fleck, was performed by the trio with the Nashville Symphony at the gala opening of the Schermerhorn Symphony Hall in Nashville. Zakir reunited with choreographer Alonzo King in 2007 for Lines Ballet’s 25th anniversary celebration, creating acclaimed music for King’s new work, Rasa. Also in 2007, the government of India chose Zakir to compose an anthem to celebrate India’s 60th year of independence. The song, “Jai Hind”, has been recorded by an array of India’s finest classical vocalists and pop singers.

The recipient of countless honors, Zakir has received the titles of Padma Bhushan, in 2002, and Padma Shri, in 1988, becoming the youngest percussionist to be awarded these, given to civilians of merit, by the Indian government. In 1990, he was awarded the Indo-American Award in recognition for his outstanding cultural contribution to relations between the United States and India. In April, 1991, he was presented with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award by the President of India, making him one of the youngest musicians to receive this recognition from India's governing cultural institute. In 2006, he was the recipient of the prestigious Kalidas Samman, an award for artists of exceptional achievement, from the government of Madhya Pradesh. In 2007, readers’ polls from both Modern Drummer and Drum! magazines named him Best World Music and Best Worldbeat Drummer respectively. In 1987, his first solo release, Making Music, was acclaimed as "one of the most inspired East-West fusion albums ever recorded." In 1992, Planet Drum, an album co-created and produced by Zakir and Mickey Hart, was awarded the first-ever Grammy® for Best World Music Album, the Downbeat Critics’ Poll for Best World Beat Album and the NARM Indie Best Seller Award for World Music Recording. Planet Drum, with Zakir as music director, toured nationally in 1996 and 1997. The band has re-emerged as Global Drum Project, touring extensively in 2007 and 2008. In 1992, Zakir founded Moment! Records, which features original collaborations in the field of contemporary world music, as well as live concert performances by great masters of the classical music of India. The label presents Zakir's own world percussion ensemble, The Rhythm Experience, both North and South Indian classical recordings, Best of Shakti and a Masters of Percussion series. Moment Records’ 2006 release Golden Strings of the Sarode with Aashish Khan and Zakir Hussain was nominated for a Grammy® in the Best Traditional World Music category for that year. Zakir is the recipient of the 1999 National Heritage Fellowship, the United States’ most prestigious honor for a master in the traditional arts, presented by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at the United States Senate on September 28, 1999. In 2005, he was named an Old Dominion Fellow by the Humanities Council at Princeton University, where he resided for the 2005-2006 semester as full professor in the music department, teaching a survey course in Indian classical music and dance. In the spring of 2007, this course was taught again by Zakir, this time at Stanford University.

The Instruments
The santoor was known in India as the “Shata Tantri Veena” or the hundred-stringed lute. Unlike other string instruments which are usually plucked, the santoor is played by striking the strings with two curved hammers made of walnut. The santoor was first presented on the classical stage by Shivkumar Sharma in Bombay in 1955, when the maestro was only 17 years old. Used in the early decades of the twentieth century to accompany a style of singing known as Sufiana Mausiqi, the santoor is thought to have been spread around the world by itinerant Gypsies. Tabla, the premier North Indian classical percussion instrument, consists of a pair of single-headed tuned kettledrums. The left-hand drum, banya, is made of an alloy of copper and silver with a goatskin membrane and provides a bass note of indefinite pitch. The right-hand drum, tabla, has a hardwood body and the membrane is stretched by a number of thongs and eight wooden blocks which are used for tuning the drum to the keynote Sa. In the center of the membrane there is a small black circular area composed of a dried paste made from flour, iron and manganese filings and other ingredients. This increases the resonance of the drum considerably. Each drum stroke has its own particular name: Na, Ta, Dha, Dhin, Trik, and so forth, and the rhythmic patterns are transmitted orally through these onomatopoeic names.