Bhajan Sopori, the musical bond between Kashmir and rest of the country, passes away

Often, in his live performances, santoor exponent Bhajan Sopori would play a ‘Kashmiri dhun’ — his baaj (playing style) combining elements of Sufiyana mausiqui and Hindustani classical music. With just a few strokes of the mallets on the hammered dulcimer, his music would take one to the grand sweep of the mountains in the Valley and its tranquil waters. It also reminded one of Sopori’s greatest gift to the country — a musical bond between the Valley and the rest of the nation for over half-a-century.
Sopori died Thursday of multi-organ failure at Fortis Memorial Hospital in Gurgaon. He was 74 and had been undergoing treatment for colon cancer since February 2022.

With the passing of one of the most famous classical musicians from the Valley, the vigour of that cultural connection will never be the same.
He is survived his wife Aparna and son and santoor player Abhay Sopori.Best of Express PremiumPremiumPremiumPremiumPremium
Born and raised in Sopore, Pt Bhajan Sopori came from Kashmir’s Sufiana gharana, and was the eighth generation of santoor players in his family. He was initiated in santoor his grandfather, Pt Samsar Chand Sopori, and later his father and noted sitar exponent from Kashmir, Pt Shamboo Nath Sopori.
🚨 Limited Time Offer | Express Premium with ad-lite for just Rs 2/ day 👉🏽 Click here to subscribe 🚨
This was the 1950s, a time when Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad had become the Prime Miner of Kashmir (after a “coup”) and had significantly involved himself in the promotion of arts in the Valley. Sopori’s first performance was at the age of five in Srinagar in 1953. Later, he’d often perform in children’s programmes on Radio Kashmir, Srinagar. He continued to learn and hone his art for many years and, along with his father, worked on innovations to change the sound of the traditional santoor, originally used in temple music in Kashmir.

Back in the day, the santoor sounded more staccato; there were no gamakas (oscillations) and glides. Like Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma from Jammu, who died last month, Sopori and his father tried to make the instrument more suitable for raagdari music and also continue playing sufiyana mausiqui. The bridges were increased to accommodate more octaves and sympathetic strings were added apart from a tumba (gourd) for better resonance.
The attempt to play both styles resulted in a playing technique that bordered between classical and sufiyana. The mallets would be hit with intensity and the sound was boerous and big. But sometimes, Sopori would give the softer notes a nudge and it would sound straight out of the heart of Dal lake.
This combination is what he referred to as the sopori baaj. Besides classical music, Sopori also worked in the field of Kashmiri folk music and composed a number of songs. He performed all over the world with the santoor and was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1992 and a Padma Shri in 2004. He was awarded the Jammu and Kashmir State Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
Often, in the music circles, there was grapevine about Sopori’s rivalry with Sharma. Sopori often felt that Sharma was favoured more concert organisers and that the 300-year-old legacy of his musical lineage was “sidelined”.

He would often clarify repeatedly that it was him who gave the first santoor performance in Srinagar, in 1953. Sharma’s first public performance came at 17 in Mumbai and because he was senior, he found recognition first.
Sopori performed extensively in Kashmir in his growing-up years, in the wondrous Nishat Gardens and Shalimar Gardens. the time he began performing outside the Valley, Sharma had become a name to reckon with. The top spot remained elusive.
But Sopori will always be remembered, not just as a musical envoy from the Valley but as an intelligent art with an academic bent of mind, and a significant name in the world of santoor, who took this complex 100-stringed instrument to great heights.