“Saint of Santoor”, Pt Bhajan Sopori no more

New Delhi: Days after the news of the demise of the Santoor maestro Pt. Shivkumar Sharma, here comes another unfortunate news that has shaken the music lovers. Santoor maestro Pt. Bhajan Sopori died on June 2.

His family told news agency PTI, that he died in a hospital in Gurugram on Thursday.

Pandit Bhajan Sopori, also known as, “Saint of Santoor” and “King of the strings”, was a performer, composer, and musicologist.

Apart from being a musician, he was also a teacher, writer, and poet. He with his knowledge of the instrument took Santoor, a folk instrument of Jammu and Kashmir, and popularised it in the other parts of the country as well. He is best known to be the cultural bridge between Jammu & Kashmir and the rest of the country.

Acknowledging his contributions to Indian music and culture, he has been awarded Padmashri, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, J&K Government Lifetime Achievement Award, J&K Government Civilian Award, Doctorate of Literature by Utkal University (Odisha), National Flag Honour of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and other prestigious awards.

His son Abhay Sopori, also a santoor player, told Indian Express, “We lost a really great musician, a great human being, and a great father. It’s really hard for me to believe this and imagine my life without him”.

Pt. Bhajan Sopori died at the age of 74.