(b Jammu, 13 Jan 1938). Indian santūr player. He began his training in vocal music and tablā at an early age. He was taught by Pandit Umadutt Sharma, a Kashmiri disciple of Pandit Bade Ramdasji of Varanasi. Having been persuaded to take up the Santūr, which although well known in Kashmir was not used in Indian classical music at that time, he set out to build a career as a concert soloist. Even after giving his first public performance in Bombay in 1955, he continued to make changes to the layout and tuning of the instrument, creating new playing techniques in order to perform dhrupad-style ālāp and gats and incorporating many of the rhythmic techniques he had learned as a tablā player into his santūr playing. His efforts have been successful in establishing the instrument within the Hindustani music tradition, and a number of young santūr players are now following in his footsteps. His many honours include the Sangeet Natak Academy Award.
Call of the Valley, HMV ECSD 2382 (1968)
Santur – Inde du nord, Ocora OCR 77 (1976)
Raga mian ki malhar, Navras NRCD 0032 (1993)
MARTIN CLAYTON