Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma was with us and will always be: Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia

Legendary flautist Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia on Tuesday mourned the demise of his long-time collaborator and friend of 60 years Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and said the santoor virtuoso will continue to live on through his music.

Sharma, 83, passed away on Tuesday morning following a heart attack at his Pali Hill house here.

One of India's most well known classical musicians, Sharma was also one half of the famous 'Shiv-Hari' composer duo along with Chaurasia.

Chaurasia, who was among the first ones to arrive, was at Sharma's residence for nearly eight hours and broke down while talking to the media.

''Ye aapne kaise keh diya woh hamare beech nahin rahe. Aisa ho hee nahin sakta. Woh hamare saath the, aur hamesha rahenge (How could you say he is no more? It can't be. He was with us and will always be),'' the 83-year-old flautist said.

The duo first came together as 'Shiv-Hari' in 1967 to record the album 'Call of the Valley' along with Pt Brij Bhushan Kabra. Sharma and Chaurasia later went on to compose some of the biggest chartbuster songs from acclaimed Hindi films like ''Silsila'', ''Lamhe'', ''Chandni'' and ''Darr''.

According to musician Durga Jasraj, her mother Madhura got Sharma his first film as a santoor player in her father V Shantaram's 1955 film ''Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje''. It was for the first time that the santoor was used in Hindi cinema.

Born and raised in Jammu, Sharma began his journey in music as a tabla player when he was only five but soon found his calling in santoor, a stringed folk instrument from Jammu and Kashmir, and gave it global identity and classical pride.

Sharma is survived by his wife Manorama and sons Rahul and Rohit.

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