Rahul Sharma

He is a musician. A versatile musician, who loves to take the tougher path, To begin with, he chose Santoor, an instrument with 100 strings. Then he chose the ancient and extremely demanding idiom of Indian classical music to harness and express his creativity. And, after diving deep within this time-tested ocean if Indian classical music, he chose to share the pearls he discovered with creative minds across the globe.Rahul thrives on challenges, loves to crossover boundaries, take un-treaded path and try the never before. Result? A series of hugely successful ‘firsts' in the list of his musical adventuresFor instance he is the first young musician (not to mention the only Indian musician) to collaborate with the world-renowned pianist Richard Clayderman to not just cut an album but give live concerts too. And, he is the youngest Indian musician to perform at the WOMAD (World of music, Arts and Dance) festival in UK, as well as the Edingburgh festival, Scotland (2001). And, his performance along with his illustrious father Pandit Shivkumar Sharma was the first ever concert of Indian music in Egypt. And, he is the first young Indian classical musician to give music for a commercial Bollywood feature film all by himself. And, probably the youngest music director for whom Lata Mangeshkar, the queen of Hindi filmdom; agreed to sing in his very first venture.Not just that, there are consistent additions to his list of awards like the Indo American Society Award (1998), Bollywood Music Award for promising New Music Director, New York (2002), MTV (IMMIES) Music Award for Best Classical / Fusion Album 2003 and so on.Along with all these innovations, experimentations Rahul continues to give his concerts of pure Indian Classical Music across India and beyond her shores. Obviously, his is a vast spectrum where popular music, collaborations, sublime, new age music, high-energy trance, folk music, thematic music, psychedelic sounds and film music co-exist very comfortably with his first love – Indian Classical Music.Rahul derives his inspiration from nature. He loves to travel both physically and through net surfing. He tries to remain connected with spirituality with meditation every day.Floating in and out of varied sounds, novel creations and huge accolades, Rahul is always striving to give his best to his audiences. He is aware of his responsibility as a musician, as a Santoor player.His grandfather Pandit Umadutt Sharma had the vision of making Santoor, an obscure folk instrument from Kashmir, to be established on the classical concert platform. His father Pandit Shivkumar Sharma went one step ahead and made Santoor indispensable in the world of Indian classical music. And, from the looks of it, Rahul is all set to make it indispensable in the world of music, across the globe.And why not? He cherishes the invaluable treasure of traditional classical music that his father has helped him imbibe and has his eyes set on the globe.Rahul Sharma.He is the new face of tradition.He is"India-in-the-Twenty first Century" personified.