Rahul Sharma – Santoor

Maya: The Illusion

Son of the illustrious Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Rahul made his first public appearance in the time-honoured way, alongside Shivkumar as learner and supporting player. He quickly graduated with the honour of sharing full-scale Jugalbandhi performances in duet (Navras title NRCD 0089 – The Golden Heritage), as he embarked on his own solo career (NRCD 0089 – The Moonlight Magic). More ground has been broken. In six years, Rahul Sharma has recorded more than twenty albums, half of them classical – alongside his father and on his own – and half of them in the contemporary fields of new age, fusion and film. He won, with Zen, the MTV India award for best instrumental fusion album (Navras NRCD 4003). He made his debut as a Bollywood music director in Mujhse Dosti Karoge! He has recorded themed sequences of music based on his own compositions, including Sweet Romance (Navras NRCD 4002) and returned to his instrument’s roots with Music of the Himalayas.

Now, Rahul Sharma strikes out again, with an allegorical venture into the world of the spirit…

The Making of Maya

Scene: Ava Studio, Mumbai. Cast: composition and santoor solo, Rahul Sharma, of course. Singer on track 5, Sunidhi Chauhan, playback star. Tabla on track 7, the late Ustad Shafaat Ahmed Khan, no less, in one of his last ever recordings. Egyptian Qanoon (a descendent of the old Egyptian harp and almost like santoor, a trapezoid shaped flat board with 81 strings, but plucked with fingers or two plectra); Keyboards, rhythm programming and sound design, Jackie V. (Jaikishan Vanjari); Voiceovers, Reetu Jain. Production and mixing, Tanai Gajjar.

Maya: The Illusion. Eight tracks of exploration, with a storyline. Let Rahul lead you in:

“The play has no beginning, no end. Those who understand the play are not caught by the game board! Those who identify with the board’s squares and planes are played by the board, and then…this game becomes…Maya!”