ABHAY RUSTOM SOPORI: THE SEVENTH GENERATION CUSTODIAN OF THE SANTOOR
In the vast and exacting world of Hindustani classical music,
Pandit Abhay Rustom Sopori represents a rare confluence of inheritance,
discipline and contemporary vision. Sober, cultured and refined beyond his
years, he is the present custodian, Uttaradhikari and Khalifa, of the ancient
Santoor tradition of India and the fabled Sopori-Sufiana
Gharana, the oldest known tradition of the Santoor, the Shatatantri Veena of Kashmir. He is the
son of the legendary Santoor maestro and composer, Pandit Bhajan Sopori, hailed
as the ‘Saint of Santoor’ and the ‘King of Strings’, and the grandson of the
great master musician, Pandit Shamboo
Nath Sopori, revered as the ‘Father of Music’ in Jammu and Kashmir. Pandit Shamboo
Nath Sopori’s legacy as a Guru endures through the 35,000-plus students he
trained, a generation that includes distinguished musicians, performers and
teachers.
A graduate in Management and
Computers with an M.Mus and Ph.D in Music, Abhay was born in Srinagar and
inherited a profound sense of music from his fabled ‘Sopori-Sufiana Gharana’ of
Kashmir, the exclusive traditional Santoor family of India with its roots
spanning over 10 generations and more than three centuries. Trained under the
traditional Guru-Shishya Parampara of his mystic Shaivite-Sufi tradition from
his grandfather and father, he now carries this lineage to audiences across the
globe. Through relentless Riyaz, large-scale ensembles, film composition,
humanitarian concerts and collaborations with the world’s foremost orchestras,
he is cultivating new generations of listeners for the Santoor and for
Hindustani classical music itself.
The Sopori tradition has been a
divine unison of spirituality and music. Each master has made unique
contributions to Kashmiri Shaivite and Sufiana music, known as Shaiv-Sufi Gayan, through profound
spiritual wisdom, mastery of sound therapy, and the shaping of a distinct
musical identity. For more than 300 years, this Parampara_has served as the
custodian of the Shatatantri Veena, the Santoor. Some Master-musicians of the
Sopori-Sufiana Gharana are:
- Pandit Som Joo Pandit
- Pandit Sudh Joo Pandit
- Pandit Sahastra Joo Pandit
- Pandit Suraj Pandit
- Pandit Shankar Pandit
- Pandit Samsar Chand Sopori
- Pandit Shamboo Nath Sopori
- Pandit Bhajan Sopori
- Pandit Abhay Rustom Sopori
The Sopori-Sufiana Gharana: More Than
300 Years of Upasana Through Music
The Sopori-Sufiana Gharana is
Kashmir’s sole surviving classical Gharana. It is a tradition more than 300
years old that fuses the grammar of Hindustani music with the spiritual poetry
of Sufi mysticism and the melodic soul of Kashmiri folk. It is not merely a
school of technique. It is a philosophy in which music is Upasana or worship. Its
modern foundation was laid by Pandit Shamboo Nath Sopori, whose erudition in Shastra and Prayog_gave the Gharana_its intellectual depth. His son, Pandit
Bhajan Sopori, gave it global reach. He was not only a virtuoso performer. He
was a cultural architect. He scored music for thousands of Kashmiri songs and
is credited with revolutionising Kashmiri composition by introducing Hindustani
classical instruments and structures into traditional Kashmiri music. In doing
so, he built a durable bridge between the Valley’s indigenous idiom and the
wider edifice of Indian classical music. He also created several new ragas for
Hindustani classical music, expanding its emotional and melodic vocabulary whilst
remaining faithful to its Shastric roots. His technical innovations on the
Santoor, including the development of Gayaki-ang that enabled the instrument to
emulate the nuances of the human voice, an expanded tonal range across octaves,
and a refined Mezrab technique,
transformed the Santoor from a folk accompaniment into a complete solo
classical instrument.
Abhay Rustom Sopori’s mother,
Professor Aparna Sopori, is an academic. The home was a true Gurukul. He
recorded his first song as a singer at the age of three for a musical feature
for All India Radio composed by Pandit Bhajan Sopori. He participated in
various festivals as a child, including his father’s grand choral presentation
featuring over 8000 voices in Srinagar in 1985. Trained by his father from the
age of four, his life was ordered by Swara-sadhana, Taalim (training) and
Tehzeeb (refinement). He gave his first public performance at seven. For him,
the hundred strings of the Santoor were not an instrument he chose. They were
his mother tongue. He inherited not just notes, but a worldview: that a
musician is, first, a servant of the art.
The Santoor: From Shata-Tantri Veena to
Concert Stage
The Santoor’s lineage traces back
to the Shata-tantri Veena described in ancient Vedic texts. Fashioned from
seasoned Kashmiri walnut, its trapezoidal body carries over 100 strings of fine
steel and brass stretched across movable bridges. It is played with two light,
curved walnut mallets called Mezrab. The resulting sound is unique. It is at
once percussive and ethereal, capable of evoking temple bells at dawn, the
patter of monsoon rain, or a profound meditative stillness.
For centuries, the Santoor
belonged to the Sufiana Mausiqi tradition of Kashmir, played in the intimate
settings of Mehfils. It was given its comprehensive classical grammar and
repertoire by Pandit Bhajan Sopori. He
systematised its Raagdaari, composed new Gats, and established its pedagogical
framework. And Abhay has inherited this concert-ready, classically evolved
Santoor and continues to advance it. His instruments are custom-built to his
acoustic specifications, with innovations that improve sustain tonal clarity
and access to the Madhya and Taar-saptak. He has established the concept of
Gayan-vadan-baaj, the vocal-instrumental system, and Been–ang in the Indian
classical system. He introduced the ‘Open String Concept’ on the Santoor
together with the ‘Enhanced Sustain Technique’, giving a new dimension to the
sound of the Santoor. He has also invented, designed and introduced a new
30-stringed instrument called Sur Santoor. In his hands, the Santoor is not a
novelty or an instrument of mere virtuosic display. His Alaap unfolds with the
patience of a Dhrupad singer, note by note, establishing the Raga’s mood and
spiritual centre. His Jor builds with mathematical logic. His Taans possess the
fluidity of a Khayal vocalist, and his Jhala arrives not as speed for its own
sake, but as an inevitable, ecstatic culmination. He renders the Tappa and
Thumri idioms with equal authenticity, proving the Santoor can articulate the
entire emotional, devotional and philosophical expanse of Hindustani music.
Presentation of Dhrupad Ang along with the accompaniment of Pakhawaj is also a
special characteristic of his Sopori Baaj. He is known for his Raagdari,
Chhandkari, Layakari, Gayaki and Tantrakari Angs such as Meend, Gamak,
Krintan, Zamzama, Ghaseet, Taan and Bol
patterns, Dhrupad Ang, which are essential for the correct rendering of
Raga-Sangeet in the true Indian Classical tradition. Another unique quality of
his presentation is that he can also sing the composition along with its
instrumental rendering, reviving his traditional Shaivite-Sufi Parampara of
Kashmir. With his research, Pt. Abhay Sopori has established that the Kashmiri
Santoor is a precursor to the resembling Santoor-like instruments found in
other parts of the world and that the Indian Santoor has a Shaivite cultural
origin in Kashmir and is not a foreign adaptation.
Pt Abhay Rustum Sopori's mastery of the Santoor
lies in his ability to transcend the instrument's apparent limitations and
reveal its extraordinary expressive potential. The beauty of his playing
emerges from its shimmering, almost celestial resonance, where every note seems
to radiate far beyond its initial strike. Although the Santoor does not permit
the continuous vocal-style glide (Meend) of a singer or certain stringed instruments,
his consummate command of dynamics, tonal nuance, and intricate ornamentation
creates the impression of seamless melodic movement. Through subtle variations
of touch and the skilful manipulation of resonance, he allows notes to bloom,
overlap, and dissolve into one another with remarkable grace. He is not merely
striking strings; he is painting with echoes, crafting soundscapes of rare
delicacy and depth that captivate the listener and evoke the lyrical spirit of
the human voice.
Innovation in Composition and Raga
Creation
Pt Abhay Sopori has revived the
old Shaivite-Sufiana compositions of his predecessors and adopted them in the
Indian Classical scenario, and also written and composed new Khayal Bandishes.
He has also composed and introduced a number of new Ragas which have been
widely acclaimed by music connoisseurs and critics:
- Raga Nirmalkauns
(2009) named after Mataji Nirmala Devi
- Raga MahaKali
(2019) named after Goddess Mother Kali
- Raga Sharda
(2020) named after Goddess Mother Sharda
- Raga
Bhajaneshwari (2023), a tribute to his father and Guru Pt Bhajan Sopori
- Raga Bhagwati
(2024) named after Goddess Mother Durga
- Raga Bharati
(2026) dedicated to the Nation and Motherland India
Some of the hallmarks of Pt Abhay
Sopori’s performances are mellifluous playing, lightning tempo, clarity and
accuracy of Raga exposition and adoption of the Sopori Baaj, the unique style
of playing Santoor created by Pt Bhajan Sopori. The Sopori Baaj is the formal
system of playing the Indian classical Santoor and incorporates all the
essential technical and stylistic nuances of both the Gayaki and Tantrakari
Angs.
Riyaz as Upasana: The Architecture of
a Maestro
If one word defines Abhay Rustom
Sopori, it is discipline. In an age defined by distraction and instantaneity,
his commitment to Riyaz is absolute and non-negotiable. For him, Riyaz is not
practised in the Western sense of rehearsing for a performance. It is Upasana,
meaning daily, solitary worship. His day begins before sunrise with vocal
Swara-sadhana, because he believes the voice is the source of all music and the
Santoor must learn to sing. This is followed by several hours on the
instrument. He observes the traditional Chilla, forty days of intensive,
secluded practice, to internalise new concepts. He studies rare Bandishes and
compositions preserved in his family’s manuscripts, some over a century old. He
trains in Tabla under qualified gurus because he insists that a soloist’s
command of Laya and _Taal_ must be absolute. He studies the theory of sound,
the acoustics of walnut, and the poetry of the saints whose words his Gharana
has carried for generations.
This profound discipline is
immediately visible on stage. He is sober in demeanour. He is meticulous about
tuning, often spending considerable time ensuring each of the hundred strings
is perfectly aligned to the Shruti of the Raga. He is unfailingly respectful to
his accompanists, treating the concert as a dialogue, not a solo exhibition. He
allows silence to settle in the hall before he sounds the first note, letting
the raga emerge from stillness without haste or aggression. Senior artists and
critics consistently note that his maturity, his Sangeet-soch, is beyond his
age. That maturity is not accidental. It is the audible, tangible result of
thousands of hours of Riyaz.
Global Ambassador: Concerts, Ensembles and
Historic Collaborations
Pt. Abhay Sopori started his musical career as a Santoor player
in the mid-1990s and has since then participated in prestigious concerts and
festivals across the world in countries like Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Brazil,
China, Czech Republic, Dubai, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iran,
Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritius, Morocco, Russia, Singapore,
Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine,
USA, Vietnam, and others. He has served as the youngest Visiting Faculty at the
University of Massachusetts, USA and Guest Professor at the Central
Conservatory of Music, Beijing, China. He happens to be the first Indian
Classical musician to be invited to the international conference TEDx. He has
also been an External Examiner to various universities in India and has been part
of several seminars. He has given Lecture-Demonstrations across the world, enrolling the youth in Indian Classical music, propagating Santoor, Indian music
and also Folk music.
Pt. Abhay Sopori composed and
conducted his first J&K Folk Music Ensemble in 2003, featuring around 75
musicians and since then has presented the ensemble at various festivals in
India. He also introduced the concept of a Sufi music ensemble titled Sufi
Kinship in 2011, featuring 35 musicians, and a Santoor-led Indian Classical Music
Ensemble in 2014, featuring 25 musicians. He has also composed and conducted many choral music presentations.
He is the only contemporary
composer of India whose composition has been conducted by the legendary music
maestro Zubin Mehta. Pt. Abhay Sopori scored the music for one of the most
acclaimed fusion works presented in Kashmir in 2013, performed by the Bavarian
State Orchestra of Germany, one of the topmost orchestras of the world,
together with Pt Abhay’s Kashmiri ensemble featuring over 100 musicians. He
also had the rare honour of being the only composer and conductor to share the
stage and co-conduct along with Maestro Mehta. The concert was telecast live in
more than 100 countries, giving international recognition to Kashmiri music and
creating history in the world of music as the first-ever musical work of its
kind. His other international collaborations include presentations and concerts
with the world-renowned Austrian Vienna Boys Choir, Moroccan Lute maestro Haj
Younis, Iranian Santur maestro Dr Darius Saghafi and maestro Siamak Aghaei,
American Dulcimer maestro Malcom Dalgish, French Clarinet player Laurent Clouet
and others, including some of the leading Dulcimer players of the world.
He created and conceptualised World Santoor Day, which is celebrated in India and abroad on 22nd
June, bringing the Santoor players together on one stage as one family for a
better future of the instrument.
Cinema, National
Projects and Composition
Pt. Abhay Sopori has more than 75
notable releases to his credit. His music in the Bollywood film Shikara (2020)
and Songs of Paradise (2025), and the web series Tanaav (2021) has been lauded for
bringing the authentic sounds of Kashmir to commercial cinema. His other
acclaimed musical works include films like Afwaah (2023) and National and
International Award-winning films like Unwoman (2023), Haput (2024), Sarva-vyapak
Bhagwan Gopinath Ji (2025), Ziyarat (2011), and Bub (2001). He has composed
music for several documentaries, telefilms, short films, serials and also
award-winning films, including Mahatma, a documentary film by the Government of
India on Mahatma Gandhi, presented at the United Nations marking the first
International Non-violence Day in 2007. His compositions have been trendsetters
and some of the greatest musical hits of Jammu and Kashmir.
Some of his other prestigious
works include: Composed music for Ekta Diwas 2025 for various films by the Government of India. He also composed the title music for the Republic Day Parade
2024 for the National Network Doordarshan, apart from composing the Channel ID and
Channel Music for DD Kisan in 2024. He also composed the background and title
for the prestigious International ABU TV Song Festival 2022, representing India,
as the host country, by the National Network Doordarshan. He composed music for
Streedesh, a dance drama on the forgotten female warriors and rulers of Kashmir, by the Government of India in 2022, conceived and presented by legendary Sonal Mansingh. Engaged
by the Government of India, he composed and conducted the J&K Folk Music
Orchestra for Sangeet Natak Akademi, representing India at the SCO Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation (Russia) in 2021. In 2019, he co-composed the highly acclaimed
folk instrumental version of ‘Vaishnav
Janato’, a path-breaking concept of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In 2018,
he co-composed the prestigious ‘Ek
Bharat Shresth Bharat’ song, which also featured the Hon’ble Prime Minister
Narendra Modi.
Cultural Revolution in Jammu and
Kashmir and Seva
Regarded as a Cultural Icon of
Jammu and Kashmir, Pt. Abhay Sopori has been instrumental in introducing
‘Cultural Policy’ in J&K and also in introducing music as a subject in
colleges in various districts of Jammu and Kashmir. This initiative, also
called the ‘Music Initiative’, was a major step in the educational system of
Jammu and Kashmir, creating new academic streams in colleges and universities as
well as new job opportunities for the youth in J&K. His efforts have also
paved the way for the introduction of PG Programme Master’s Degree in
Hindustani Music in Kashmir in 2024. Pt. Abhay Sopori has been working in
Kashmir since 2000, spreading the message of peace through music and reaching
out to the youth in far-flung areas. Under the aegis of his father, Pandit
Bhajan Sopori ji, he opened the music academy and organisation named _SaMaPa_,
Sopori Academy of Music and Performing Arts, in 2005, which is now a prominent
name in the music circle of India. He has the credit of initiating
path-breaking events in J&K and Delhi. Pandit Abhay Sopori introduced the concept
of ‘Common Song’ under which various songs were released promoting peace,
communal harmony and brotherhood, presenting some of the biggest musical hits of
Jammu and Kashmir. He has not only established himself as a preeminent musician
of the present era but has simultaneously promoted thousands of upcoming and
talented musicians of the country. Further, he has always been at the forefront
to raise funds and mobilise resources through his charity concerts for various
medical and social causes and also catastrophes like the Kashmir earthquake and the J&K floods.
Awards and Recognition
Throughout his career, he has
garnered hundreds of National and International accolades, titles and awards.
He has been the youngest recipient of almost all the awards that he has received
in recognition of his outstanding contribution and achievements in the field of
music.
Key honours include: Award of
Sangeet Chudamani, the Doctorate of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Music by Pracheen Kala
Kendra, 2026, Swaranjali Samman 2026, Sangeet Ratna Award 2025,Best Background
Music Score 2025 at Malaysia International Cine Awards (MICA) for the film Sarva-Vyapak
Bhagwan Gopinath, Best Background Music Score 2025 at 10th Wallet Film Festival
for the film Sarva-Vyapak Bhagwan Gopinath, Top Grade Music Composer Award by All
India Radio, Govt. of India 2024, Dastarbandi_(Traditional Turban Tying
Ceremony upon Pt Abhay Sopori by the artist and creative arts fraternity of
Jammu and Kashmir proclaiming him as the Khalifa or successor after Pt Bhajan Sopori and the Custodian of Santoor and Sufiana Gharana,
and also an ambassador and torchbearer of the art and culture of Jammu and
Kashmir) 2022, Mahatma Gandhi Seva Medal, Gandhi Global Peace Award by United
Nations accredited Gandhi Global Family 2020 ,Top Grade Artist Award Santoor by All India Radio (Govt. of India)
2019, Outstanding Artist by ICCR (Govt. of India) 2019, Atal Shikhar Samman_
2017, Presented at the Parliament of India ( Annexe ) ,State Icon title by Election Commission of
India 2016, J&K Government Award, (Highest Civilian Award of Jammu and
Kashmir)2011, Sangeet Natak Akademi’s first Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar_
2006, 1st Prize in the State Music Competition of the Academy of Art, Culture
& Languages, Government of Jammu and
Kashmir 1989. His name features in various Biographical-Note Volumes of India
and abroad like Asian Admirable Achievers, Asian American Who’s Who, Famous
India’s Who’s Who, Asia Pacific Who’s Who, Biography of the Year, Famous India:
Nation’s Who’s Who, Reference Asia, Kohinoor Personalities of Asia.
9. Sober, Cultured, Refined: The Man
and His Music
To encounter Abhay Rustom Sopori
off-stage is to understand the source of his on-stage presence. He is the
embodiment of Tehzeeb (refinement), a cultured grace that is increasingly rare.
He is soft-spoken, erudite and unfailingly courteous to all, from senior
maestros to the youngest student. His intellectual interests are wide. He can
discuss Kalidasa’s Sanskrit poetics, the metaphysics in Rumi’s Masnavi, and
the specific density of walnut required for a superior Santoor resonance with
equal ease. This culture is not a performance. It is the product of a Gharana and
an upbringing where music was worship, and conduct was inseparable from art.
This sobriety is the secret of
his art. Because he does not perform for applause, he has the patience to wait
for the sum. Because his ego does not occupy the stage, there is space for the
raga to reveal itself. In his rendering of Raag Ahir Bhairav, the Santoor
evokes the quiet, devotional intensity of dawn. In his compositions based on
the Vaakhs of the 14th-century Kashmiri mystic-poet Lal Ded, he becomes a
conduit, carrying a profound spiritual philosophy to global listeners without
exoticising or diluting it.
He is not an imitator of his
father or grandfather. He is their extension into a new century. He honours Parampara, the tradition, with complete
fidelity, whilst engaging in Prayog,
meaning innovation, with courage and scholarship. This balance of reverence and
relevance, of depth and accessibility, is the hallmark of a true maestro.
A Hundred Strings for a Fractured
World
Through his unwavering discipline,
intellectual rigour, cultural stewardship, and artistic refinement, the
Sopori-Sufiana Gharana has found in Abhay Rustom Sopori not merely an heir to a
distinguished legacy, but a scholar-musician of exceptional stature and a
visionary custodian for the twenty-first century. Standing at the confluence of
tradition and innovation, he safeguards a musical
inheritance of remarkable antiquity while ensuring its continued relevance for
contemporary audiences. In his hands, tradition is neither preserved as a
museum relic nor diluted for modern consumption; rather, it is revitalised
through scholarship, dignity, and creative insight.
His contribution extends far
beyond the concert stage. As a musician, educator, composer, cultural
ambassador, and humanitarian, he embodies the highest ideals of the Indian
classical tradition, wherein artistic excellence is inseparable from service to
society. Through his work, the Santoor has emerged not merely as an instrument
of extraordinary beauty, but as a medium for dialogue, understanding, and peace
across cultures and continents.
In an age often characterised by
fragmentation, distraction, and fleeting fashions, Abhay Rustom Sopori stands
as a rare exemplar of continuity, substance, and grace. His music does more
than entertain; it enlightens, elevates, and unites. Through his artistry, the
wisdom of centuries finds a living voice, and through his example, future
generations are reminded that true greatness lies not only in mastery of an
art, but in the capacity to enrich the cultural, intellectual, and spiritual
life of humanity. He is, in every sense, among the foremost torchbearers of
Kashmir's musical heritage and a distinguished representative of India's
civilisational ethos on the global stage. Through him, the Santoor speaks not
only of the mountains, rivers, and valleys of Kashmir, but to the wider world. Each
stroke of his Mezrab
renders decades of Riyaz audible.
Each performance becomes an act of Seva or service in its highest sense. Every
film score, every charity concert in support of earthquake and flood relief,
and every new Rasika inspired
in a distant land advances the vision of his father and Guru, Pandit Bhajan
Sopori. That vision was founded upon a profound belief: that the Santoor, and
the wisdom, peace, and beauty embodied within the Ragas, belong not to any one
region or community, but to all humanity.
In Abhay Rustom Sopori's music, a world too often fractured by
noise and division encounters a hundred-stringed prayer: for peace, for
healing, and for the welfare of the shared humanity.
(Avtar Mota)
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.
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