Bhajan Sopori playing classical instrument

Bhajan Sopori is an Indian instrumentalist. He is a player of santoor, an ancient stringed musical instrument.Sopori hails from Sopore in Kashmir Valley and traces his lineage to ancient Santoor experts. He belongs to the Sufiana gharana of Indian classical music. His family has played santoor for over six generations. His first public performance was at a conference organised by Prayag Sangeet Samiti & the University of Allahabad when he was 10 years old. Sopori's son Abhay Rustum Sopori is also a santoor player. Both father and son have given several performances together.

The Indian santoor is an ancient string musical instrument native to Jammu and Kashmir, with origins in Persia. A primitive ancestor of this type of instruments was invented in Mesopotamia (1600-911 BC). This archetype traveled to different parts of the east and each region customized and designed their own versions (see Iraqi Santur).
The santoor is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer often made of walnut, with seventy two strings. The special-shaped mallets (mezrab) are lightweight and are held between the index and middle fingers. A typical santoor has two sets of bridges, providing a range of three octaves.The Indian santoor is more rectangular and can have more strings than the Persian counterpart, which generally has 72 strings.

Source - Wikipedia

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan presents "Sangeet Samaroh" A Festival of Indian Classical Music & Dance, which marks the Platinum Jubilee celebration of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. The year 2012 marks the 75th year of the Bhavan and the 125th birth anniversary of its visionary founder K.M. Munshi. Many renowned artists attended this year's Sangeet Samaroh. The Delhi Kendra annually organizes the Sangeet Samaroh day since 2009.

Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan:

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan is an Indian educational trust. Dr. K. M. Munshi founded it on November 7, 1938, with the blessings of Mahatma Gandhi. The trust's programs, through its 117 centers in India, 7 centers abroad and 355 constituent institutions, cover "all aspects of life from the cradle to the grave and beyond -- it fills a growing vacuum in modern life", as Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru observed when they first visited the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in 1950.

Source: Wikipedia

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