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Kavita Chhibber has been a journalist and astrologer for many years. To know more about Kavita and her work, please visit www.KavitaChhibber.com.  
Call of the Valley: Shiv Kumar Sharma and Zakir Hussain in Concert
This will be a concert no one should miss not because it showcases two great musicians performing together, but concerts like these become a musical prayer, a meditation that heals the spirit, rejuvenates and enriches the soul...
Whenever someone asks who my favorite Indian classical musician is, I have said that from a personal perspective, I have two favorites. The man who won me over with his kindness and whose music always brings tears to my eyes is Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. He was gracious enough to introduce a gauche teenager to the beauty of Hindustani classical music with such elegance and patience, and each time I meet him and his family, I’m blown away by their thoughtfulness and humility.

Then there is the man who I have not met so far, but who has touched my soul with his music-santoor maestro Pundit Shiv Kumar Sharma. I was perhaps 19 when I first heard the album Call of the Valley and was blown away by this collaborative effort Shiv Ji had put out with Hariprasad Chaurasia. Every track on that album stuns you with its magical quality and you are instantly transported to the beautiful valley of Kashmir. The album captures through music, the story of a day in a shepherd’s life. Since I’m originally from Jammu and Kashmir, I could instantly connect as memories of the mountains, the chinar trees, and an aurora sunrise over Dal Lake began cascading over me in showers of musical notes .The santoor was originally used for sufiana music before Shiv ji took it upon himself to enhance its richness, and perhaps because of that it retains that ethereal quality, the free spirited joi de vivre, touching the very soul and spirit of those who take a sip from any musical offering presented by the maestro. I always feel that I’m next to a musical waterfall, and can feel myself instantly relax as I let the magical beauty of those notes wash over me, taking the toxins of every day stresses with it.

What I found out later was that my mother and Shiv ji were college mates and she learnt vocal classical music from his father. She still shakes her head and says “I didn’t know so many years down the road I will have a daughter so crazy about my friend’s music.” Mom actually listened to his cds at length only last year when she visited the US. I asked her to share her memories of Shiv ji and she started by talking about his illustrious father. She said Uma Dutt ji was a wonderful guru- a tall, handsome man with an imposing personality. He was a master musician and teacher. He never went to any one’s house to teach music. His disciples went to him and if they were fortunate enough, they stayed with him and studied. He made a rare exception in mom’s case and would come home to teach her. “I couldn’t have found a better guru-he taught me some rare tans, that no one else knew, and I feel so enriched by the time I spent with him.”

Mom first got to know Shiv ji when they went together to attend a youth festival in the 50s. She said that he was so gifted that anytime he chose to represent the University of Jammu and Kashmir he always came back with a gold medal. What many people don’t know is that those gold medals were won in the tabla category. Shiv ji often accompanied Ravi Shankar, Radhika Mohan Moitra, Siddeshwari Devi and Begum Akhtar who would ask specially for him. Mom remembers going to see one such concert where Ravi Ji performed and Shiv ji accompanied him on tabla.” Shiv ji would often play the harmonium also with us when we sang. He could also play the sitar and sarod. His knowledge of instruments went way beyond the tabla,” said mom. 
It was later that Shiv ji switched. “In fact we were invited for tea at his house and he showed us this instrument and said his father had brought it and it was called the santoor,” said mom. Before that none of them had inkling about what it was. Mom remembers him as being incredibly hard working. He would do riyaaz for 10 hours but also found time to complete his Masters in Economics. 

“He was a man of few words always, and even at that young age commanded tremendous respect,’ mom recalls. “ Every one always addressed him as Shiv ji respectfully, an unusual thing for a college youngster- to be referred to so respectfully by his contemporaries.” Many years passed, Shiv ji left for Bombay and mom would hear about him off and on from his father-but she didn’t realize until the mid 70s when she was in Kabul where my dad had been posted as military attaché how famous her friend had become. It was when she was invited along with dad to a function at the Egyptian embassy, and saw albums all over the place with Shivji as the starring artist that it dawned on her this was the same man who was her old college mate. They met and she found him the same, humble man that she had known so long ago. Later she was again invited to do an interview with the co-author of his autobiography to share memories of their association. Mom recalls telling him, “Shivji you know me-I’m the same stuck up Suman Dutta. I hope you haven’t developed airs that most stars have. If that is the case I won’t come over. He laughed and said Suman ji, I’m a very small man, and not any kind of star. That was his humility. He sent his car to pick me up, was at the gate to receive me, looked after me and escorted me back. He looked as youthful and was the same down to earth person I knew so many years ago in spite of becoming the legendary musician that he is.” Mom managed to unearth a very rare picture of him at one of the youth festivals and gave it to the co-author.

I spoke to Hariprasad Chaurasia about Shivji, in an interview I did recently and asked him to talk about what Shiv Ji meant to him. He got very emotional and said, “I have not been able to say this to him to this day, but I worship him He is the older brother I always wanted. He is not of this world, I knew that the day I met him.” Hari ji also credits Shiv ji for putting him back on track when he was beginning to lose his true calling in the glamour and glitz of playing for films.

Shiv ji came to Atlanta in 1998 and it was an ethereal experience hearing him introduce the various nuances of the santoor, the raga he was to play so eloquently. You could see instantly that the man was a deep intellectual and a wonderful speaker. His music had us all spellbound. Later we had the pleasure of hearing his son Rahul accompany him in a jugal bandi. It’s wonderful to see a son walk the path his father chose for himself, but I also felt a little sorry for the son, because his father is an incomparable genius. It will be a hard road for Rahul, but the musical treasure his father has bestowed on him, will keep him enriched and energized, for the long journey ahead. I wanted to meet Shiv ji backstage but my friends with whom I had taken a ride were in a hurry. My mom says he asked her why had I not come to meet him when she told him how much I loved his music-somehow he never performed in Atlanta again.

Zakir Hussain is a master of all he touches in percussion. Ravi Shankar said of him, “What can I say of Zakir. He is his father and more. Not only has he carried the art of the Punjab gharana to greater heights, he is very familiar with other gharanas as well. He can take anything-nakkara, dholak, bongo, jazz, African drums and come up with amazing sounds. His stage is the world and it’s a much wider, more global world today for him than it was for his father.” I too have loved listening to Zakir play and had heard all kinds of good things about how charming he was in person.

I think if Zakir Hussain has a musical soul mate it is Shiv ji. I believe Shiv ji has mentored Zakir and introduced him to the world stage. When you listen to the two of them play you can see that soul connection. Some of the pieces they play together just cannot be rehearsed. I realized how much Zakir loves Shiv ji, in an incident that happened just before I interviewed him. In fact almost 4 years ago, I was to interview Zakir when he came here with the group Shakti; his publicist messed up and the interview didn’t happen. I turned down an offer for a phone interview and decided when the time is right that interview will happen. Zakir came to Atlanta again to play at the golden jubilee celebrations honoring Pundit Jasraj for completing 50 years in the field of vocal classical music. I had asked violinist Kala Ramnath to request the interview. Zakir had just arrived from India, was missing spending fathers’ day with his daughters, and was tired and cranky. I was told he was asleep. For some reason there was a misunderstanding and Kala was too scared to call him and asked me to talk to him directly. I had decided by then that I would call mom and ask her to ask Shiv ji to talk to Zakir directly. A lot of the time celebrities ask their publicists to screen interview requests, and pick and choose after that. Kala gave me his number. I left a message for Zakir and mentioned that I had waited almost 3 years to do this interview. I had thought of asking mom to ask Shiv ji to request Zakir in case the interview didn’t happen again.

Zakir responded immediately, was very gracious and agreed to do the interview. Then there was a misunderstanding during a conversation I had with him prior to the interview and we got into an argument. I didn’t like a few things he said and I told him politely we did not have to do the interview. His answer was-‘You took Shiv ji’s name and I cannot turn this interview down.” He showed up on time, did the interview, and was very gracious after that. This incident is a heartwarming example of how in this cutthroat dog eat dog world, there are some relationships that remain unadulterated and thrive on loyalty, love and mutual respect.

Shiv ji and Zakir are performing together on the 10th April at Emory. I will be there-and needless to say I have already put in a call to mom to tell Shiv ji, her daughter will be there in the first row and will not be letting him get away, without meeting her and doing an interview this time.

This will be a concert no one should miss not because it showcases two great musicians performing together, but concerts like these become a musical prayer, a meditation that heals the spirit, rejuvenates and enriches the soul.

For more information on the concert go to kavitachhibber.com and ICMSatlanta.org
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in these columns are solely those of the writers and do not necessarily represent those of the editor/publisher.

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