Rahul Sharma (born 25 September 1972) is an Indian

music director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the d ...

and

Indian classical Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as '' Hindustani'' and the South Indian expression known as '' Carnatic''. These traditions were not ...

santoor The Indian santoor instrument is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer, and a variation of the Iranian santur. The instrument is generally made of walnut and has 25 bridges. Each bridge has 4 strings, making for a total of 100 strings. It is a ...

player. The

is a folk instrument.

Early life

Rahul Sharma was born in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

to the

Dogra The Dogras or Dogra people, are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group in India and Pakistan consisting of the Dogri language speakers. They live predominantly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, and in adjoining areas of Punjab, Himachal ...

family of

Santoor The Indian santoor instrument is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer, and a variation of the Iranian santur. The instrument is generally made of walnut and has 25 bridges. Each bridge has 4 strings, making for a total of 100 strings. It is a ...

player Pt. Shivkumar Sharma and Manorama, from a family steeped in the tradition of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

. His grandfather, Uma Dutt Sharma, was a santoor player. Married to his sweetheart

Barkha Sharma Barkha Sharma is an Indian fashion designer, classical dancer, author, and co-founder of the men's clothing label Barkha 'n' Sonzal. In 2014, she was nominated to represent India in the Woolmark, International Woolmark Prize in the menswear cat ...

in 2009. The couple have a son named Abhinav born on 17 June 2014. Rahul Shivkumar Sharma

Career

Rahul started playing the

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

at an early age. Learning the santoor at age 13, he wasn't completely sure of pursuing music until he turned 17. After studying economics at Mumbai's

Mithibai College The Mithibai College of Arts, Chauhan Institute of Science & Amruthben Jivanlal College of Commerce and Economics is a college affiliated to the University of Mumbai. The college was established in 1961 in Vile Parle, Mumbai by Shri Vile Parle ...

, Rahul Sharma began performing with his father. He started accompanying him in concerts in 1996, at the age of 24. At the age of 22, Sharma was signed by

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

to perform at

WOMAD WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance. History WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, ...

and at the

Darbar festival The Darbar Festival is an Indian classical music and dance festival that takes place annually over three months in London. It uniquely curates music from the north Indian Hindustani and south Indian Carnatic classical traditions as well as dh ...

. Having learnt from his father

Shivkumar Sharma Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (13 January 1938 – 10 May 2022) was an Indian classical musician and santoor player who is credited with adapting the santoor for Indian classical music. As a music composer, he collaborated with Indian flautist Harip ...

, Rahul has taken the santoor into world music with various collaborations, including ''Namaste India''. Rahul and American saxophonist

Kenny G Kenneth Bruce Gorelick (born June 5, 1956), known professionally as Kenny G, is an American smooth jazz saxophonist, composer, and producer. His 1986 album ''Duotones'' brought him commercial success. Kenny G is one of the best-selling artis ...

's album reached #2 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' world charts and #4 on Board Smooth jazz charts. Rahul also collaborated with Grammy-winning

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

group ''Deep Forest'', founded by Eric Miquet on 10 tracks which combined Indian folk and santoor with electronica. Rahul has also experimented by taking the santoor into the

rock genre This is a list of rock music genres consisting of subgenres of popular music that have roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, and which developed into a distinct identity as rock music in the 1960s, particularly in the United States and United Kin ...

with his album ''The Rebel''. Rahul Sharma has been awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi award. He has released several CDs, some solo and some with his father. He has collaborated with international musicians such as pianist

Richard Clayderman Richard Clayderman (; born Philippe Pagès , 28 December 1953 in Paris) is a French pianist who has released numerous albums including the compositions of Paul de Senneville, Olivier Toussaint and Marc Minier, instrumental renditions of popular ...

and

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...

Kersi Lord. ''The Confluence'' (2002) has mostly Indian titles, six of which were composed by Rahul himself. He provided the music for the Hindi feature film ''Mujhse Dosti Karoge'', for which he received the award in the "Best Debut - Music Director" category at the 2002

ZEE Bollywood Zee is the phonetic pronunciation of the letter Z in American English ("zed" in Commonwealth English). Zee may also refer to: People *Zee (徐), a Wu Chinese surname, an equivalent of Xu *Anthony Zee (b. 1945), Chinese-American physicist * Chi ...

Music Awards. ''Time Traveler'', which has been described as

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

, was released on 10 March 2006.

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan (; born as Amitabh Shrivastav; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the most succe ...

is the singer of Rahul's latest composition titled ‘ Jai Hanuman’ from Kunal Kohli's web series Ramyug on MX player Feat - Ustad

Zakir Hussain Zakir Hussain ( ur, , link=no) is the name of: * Zakir Husain (politician), an Indian politician and former president of India * Zakir Hussain (actor), Bollywood actor * Zakir Hussain (field hockey) (1934–2019), Pakistani field hockey player * ...

. He also collaborated with such musicians as

John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra * Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter * John McLaugh ...

Mickey Hart Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

Yo Yo Ma Yo-Yo Ma (''Chinese language, Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. ...

Joe Henderson Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day and recorded for several prominent l ...

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

Airto Moreira Airto Guimorvan Moreira (born August 5, 1941) is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. He is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, and their daughter Diana Moreira is also a singer. Coming to prominence in the late 1960s as a member of the ...

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", San ...

, and the Kodo Drummers. During the Royal visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Prince William and Kate Middleton, Rahul Sharma and his wife had played various songs by

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

, including " Norwegian Wood", "O Sweet Lord" and "

Let It Be Let It Be most commonly refers to: * ''Let It Be'' (Beatles album), the Beatles' final studio album, released in 1970 * "Let It Be" (Beatles song), the title song from the album It may also refer to: Film and television * ''Let It Be'' (1970 ...

". In 2019, he and his father along with

Yogesh Samsi Pandit Yogesh Samsi (born 17 November 1968) is an Indian tabla player. Early life Yogesh Samsi was born in Delhi to renowned vocalist Pandit Dinkar Kaikini. Yogesh's father introduced him to music at the age of four. At the age of four he start ...

had performed at the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...

. Rahul Sharma has more than 60 Albums to his credit

Awards and accolades

*Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (2011) *MTV IMMIES Best Instrumental Album - ZEN 2001

References

External links

*
Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharma, Rahul 1972 births Living people Dogra people Hindustani instrumentalists Musicians from Mumbai Santoor players Mithibai College alumni Dogra