Santoor Maestro Bhajan Sopori Passes Away At 73, Here's His Journey So Far

Bhajan Sopori, a Santoor maestro and Padma Shri awardee, died on June 2 in Gurugram at the age of 73. According to a statement made by Fortis Memorial Research Institute in Gurgaon, the Santoor great was battling colon cancer at stage 4 and had been receiving treatment since February 2022; the disease had spread to his liver and bones.

The santoor player was born in 1948 in Sopore, Kashmir Valley, and was a Sufiana Gharana of Indian classical musician. He was the great-grandson of Pandit Shankar Pandit, the creator of the 'Sufi Baaj' (style), which combines Sufiana Qalam with Hindustani Classical music.

Sopori was five years old when he delivered his first public performance in 1953, having studied western classical music at Washington University and Hindustani music with his grandfather, S.C. Sopori, and father, Shambhoo Nath.

He composed music for over 6000 songs in Hindi, Kashmiri, Dogri, Sindhi, Urdu, Sanskrit, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Himachali, Rajasthani, Telegu, Tamil, and other languages and dialects, as well as foreign languages such as Persian and Arabic, for films, commercials, documentaries, series, operas, and choirs, among other things.

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The legend got the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1992 and the Padma Shri in 2004. He is known as the "Saint of the Santoor" and the "King of Strings". For his contributions to Indian classical music, he was given the Baba Allaudin Khan Award in 2009 and the M.N. Mathur Award in 2011. He also ran the SaMaPa Music Academy (Sopori Academy for Music and Performing Arts). His two sons, Sorabh Sapori and Abhay Sapori, both play the santoor.

Bhajan Sopori Passes Away

The news of his demise was announced with a statement that read, "Pandit Bhajan Sopori, a well-known Santoor performer, was recently diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer. The illness had progressed to the liver and skeletal system. He has been receiving treatment at Gurugram's Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI) since February 2022 and has recently had chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. After his condition worsened, he was admitted to FMRI on May 18, 2022. Despite the greatest efforts of the medics, he died on June 2, 2022, from multi-organ failure."