Entertainment

Indian classical music legend Shivkumar Sharma dies

Published

5 years ago

May 11, 2022

Indian classical music legend Shivkumar Sharma has died at the age of 84.

Sharma was an exponent of santoor, a dulcimer-like instrument. He suffered a heart attack at his residence in Mumbai on Tuesday morning.

Sharma is credited with converting the santoor, which was mainly played in Kashmir, into a major instrument of Indian classical music.

Sharma was also part of a duo – along with flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia – who worked on classical and film music.

Shiv-Hari, as they were called, composed music for at least eight Bollywood films, including Silsila, Chandni, Darr and Lamhe.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the tributes to Sharma.

“Our cultural world is poorer with the demise of Pandit Shivkumar Sharma Ji. He popularised the Santoor at a global level. His music will continue to enthral the coming generations,” Modi wrote on Twitter.

Sharma was born and raised in Jammu in a house by a river where, in his words, “from dawn till dusk, someone or the other was singing or playing an instrument”.

His father, Uma Dutt Sharma, came from a family of priests, and was himself a classical vocalist and played the tabla, the traditional Indian drum.

In the early 1950s, when he was handling music programmes for a state-run radio station, Uma Dutt began researching the santoor, a traditional instrument of Kashmir used in local Sufi music.

He bought home a 100-string santoor and encouraged his young son to try playing it.

Years later, Sharma recounted that he had initially resisted playing the instrument.

“My father told me, ‘You have no idea what is going to happen with your name and the santoor. They are going to become synonymous. So you have to play this’, Sharma told interviewer Ina Puri.

By 17, Sharma was playing both the santoor and the tabla for the local radio station. He flowered into a versatile musician, later playing the tabla for maestros such as Ravi Shankar (sitar) and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (sarod).

Singer Vijay Kichlu once said Sharma made the santoor a major component of Indian classical music.

“Unlike the santoor, the sarod, the shehnai and the violin were considered major instruments, with the sarangi being used as an accompanying instrument to vocalists,” Kichlu said.

Also, playing the santoor was not easy: the instrument is not played with the fingers. Instead, its strings have to be struck with a mallet held in each hand.

Sharma once said he had modified the instrument to “suit the requirements of Indian classical music – specifically to enhance its tonal quality”. Interestingly, he was also the first musician to play the instrument, weighing eight kilograms, on his lap for hours at a time – traditionally the santoor was kept on a wooden stand when played.

Some critics were “harsh”, saying the santoor would never be accepted as a classical instrument, and told his father that his son had chosen the “wrong instrument”, Sharma recounted in his autobiography, Journey with a Hundred Strings.

But Sharma persevered.

In 1955, when he was 17, he had turned down an offer from V Shantaram, a Bollywood director, to compose a song in his film – saying his calling lay elsewhere.

But five years later, he arrived in Mumbai looking for music-based jobs in the film industry – by then, he had also acquired a master’s degree in economics.

“His work, for much of the sixties and some of the seventies, kept running like a train on two tracks – his work in cinema, and his opus on the [classical] concert stage,” said Manek Premchand, a historian of film music.

Over the years, he played to packed audiences at classical shows, where he would never play his popular music. Ravi Shankar once called Sharma a “superstar” who would be always “mentioned as a pioneer in elevating santoor to the height of classical refinement”.

A rare musician who effortlessly straddled both classical and popular music, Sharma played the santoor for least 40 popular Hindi film songs sung by greats such as Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar and Mukesh.

In the eighties, his collaboration with Chaurasia spawned many hits, beginning with Silsila, starring superstar Amitabh Bachchan.

Bachchan once remembered a New Year’s eve during the shooting of Silsila when the duo played well past midnight at the hotel they were staying in Delhi.

“When it was all over, we could see not just a physical exhaustion on the part of Sharma but as though his very soul had got exhausted,” Bachchan recalled.

In 1998, Kumar and Chaurasia became the first Indian musicians to play at a Nobel prize ceremony in Oslo alongside Alanis Morissette, Elton John and Phil Collins. The duo also performed in the central hall of India’s parliament.

Sharma received some of India’s greatest honours: the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1986, the Padma Shri in 1991, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2001.

He is survived by his wife and two sons. One of his sons, Rahul, is also a santoor player of repute who has recorded with Richard Clayderman and Kenny G.

(RNZ)

Entertainment

Pilot, passenger dead after helicopter crash in Paekākāriki Hill

Published

10 months ago

January 28, 2026

News Staff

Police say two people have died in a helicopter crash near Wellington today.

Emergency services were called to a helicopter crash in the Paekākāriki Hill area, north of Wellington, by an automated crash alert at 7.30am.

Inspector Renée Perkins said both the pilot and sole passenger were found deceased following the crash.

She said police were working to remove the bodies from the area and cordons were in place around the Battle Hill campground.

Police would work alongside the Civil Aviation Authority to examine the scene.

Police vehicle and trailer arrive at chopper scene near Wellington

A police vehicle with a trailer is seen at the site this afternoon. Photo: RNZ / Charlotte Cook

A man who discovered a body in the “unrecognisable” wreckage of a helicopter that crashed says he was checking for vital signs as the Westpac helicopter arrived at the scene.

He said he checked the vital signs of one of the people on the helicopter and they were deceased.

Shortly afterwards, he said another person was located some distance from the wreckage on steep terrain in thick scrub.

“It’s not my first. I spent 27 years in search and rescue – so it’s not something new to me,” the man said.

He said he attempted to shut the helicopter off as fuel was running out of the aircraft, but could not access the switch to do so.

“Because there’s fuel leaking out and the machine was still turned on, we took the safe option and we moved out of the way,” he said.

The man said he understood the helicopter was involved in goat culling in the area.

Police, Maritime NZ’s Rescue Coordination Centre and Fire and Emergency responded to the crash.

Fire and Emergency had sent two crews from Porirua, along with their “line rescue team”. Also known as rope rescue personnel, they are trained in high-angle, vertical, or challenging terrain, often handling rescues at height or in confined spaces.

Scene near helicopter crash in Wellington region

Photo: RNZ / Charlotte Cook

The newly appointed Police Assistant Commissioner, currently District Commander, Corrie Parnell has arrived on site. RNZ understands authorities are currently in meetings and they are struggling to access the site because of the area.

Park rangers and teams on ATVs were trying to make the scene more accessible.

While helicopters have been in the air this morning, an RNZ reporter at the scene says Flight Radar is no longer showing helicopters in the area.

The Life Flight Westpac Rescue Helicopter being used in the search for a crashed helicopter in the Paekākāriki Hill area on 28 January 2026.

A Westpac rescue helicopter can be seen hovering over the valley near Battle Hill. Photo: Samuel Rillstone

Local MP Tim Costley said he was sad to hear of the tragic helicopter crash.

“My heart goes out to the family, friends, and loved ones of those two people. Their families will be really feeling it right now and I know we all send our thoughts and prayer,” he said.

Costley, who formerly served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, said many in the region, and in the wider Defence Force community, will be remembering the tragic events of Anzac Day 2010.

Wednesday’s crash was near Pukerua Bay, where three people died in a crash involving an Air Force helicopter on Anzac Day in 2010.

“While today is all about the families impacted this morning, I’m mindful of those who will cast their minds back to that day, and remember the awful wait as they sought desperately for information about their loved ones, only to receive the worst possible news. Today, two more families go through that same unimaginable experience,” he said.

“Let’s keep the families first and foremost in our thoughts at this really sad time.”

~ RNZ

Entertainment

New Zealand TV series After The Party scores Bafta nomination

Published

2 years ago

March 28, 2025

News Staff

Kiwi series After The Party, starring acting icon Robyn Malcolm in the lead, has scored a nomination in this year’s Bafta (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) awards.

The show, written by Dianne Taylor, is listed in the line-up for Best International TV Series.

“Just to get in this category is utterly crazy, mindblowing and just plain joyous,” Malcolm wrote in an Instagram post.

“Am wandering about Liverpool in a daze thinking about all our ATP crew who worked like maniacs, rain wind and shine over those weeks back in Te Whanganui a Tara Aotearoa (Wellington New Zealand).

“Lads this is a testament to all our work together. I’m f’ing proud of all of us. We are in a seriously classy category with seriously classy competition.”

The show comes up against Australian comedy, Colin from Accounts, Say Nothing, True Detective: Night Country, and Shogun, which stars fellow New Zealand-born Japanese actress, Anna Sawai.

After the Party took home a record haul at the 2024 New Zealand Television Awards.

The six-part drama series, produced by Lingo Pictures and Luminous Beast, claimed nine awards, including NZ On Air Best Drama, Best Script: Drama, Best Editing: Drama and Comedy, and Best Actor and Actress wins for Peter Mullan and Robyn Malcolm.

Screenwriter Taylor told RNZ’s Saturday Morning that she and Malcolm were frustrated by the lack of decent roles for middle-aged women, so decided to do something about it, creating After The Party in 2023.

Its main character, played by Malcolm, is a woman in her 50s whose world implodes when she accuses her ex-husband of a sex crime and nobody believes her.

The Bafta ceremony will take place on April 28.

Source: RNZ

Breaking News

Kiwi-born actress Anna Sawai makes history with Emmy Award win

Published

2 years ago

September 16, 2024

News Staff

New Zealand-born actress Anna Sawai has won an Emmy for her lead role in the critically acclaimed historical drama Shōgun.

The 32-year-old actress made history by becoming the first Japanese actress to win an Emmy in her category, alongside her co-star Hiroyuki Sanada, who took out the best leading actor in a drama award.

She beat out Carrie Coon (The Gilded Age), Imelda Staunton (The Crown), Jennifer Aniston (The Morning Show), Maya Erskine (Mr. and Mrs. Smith) and Reese Witherspoon (The Morning Show).

Tearful as she took to the stage, she paid tribute to her mother.

“I was crying before my name was announced, I am a mess today,” Sawai said.

“Thank you to my family, Mom. I love you. You are the reason I’m here. You showed me stoicism, and that’s how I was able to portray Mariko. This is to all the women who expect nothing and continue to be an example for everyone.”

She also thanked fellow nominees, her co-stars, and the show’s crew.

Japanese actress Anna Sawai (L) winner of the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series award for "Shogun" and Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada winner of the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series award for "Shogun" pose in the press room during the 76th Emmy Awards at the Peacock Theatre at L.A. Live in Los Angeles on September 15, 2024. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP)

Anna Sawai (L) and Hiroyuki Sanada, Emmy winners of the best lead actors in a drama, in the press room during the 76th Emmy Awards at the Peacock Theatre at L.A. Live in Los Angeles on September 15, 2024. Photo: AFP / Robyn Beck

Emmys 2024: The best looks from the red carpet at the Emmy Awards 2024

Shōgun, an adaptation of James Clavell’s bestselling novel, follows a British sailor after his ship washes ashore a Japanese fishing village in the year 1600. It was reportedly Disney-owned FX’s most expensive series to create.

Sawai played the role of Toda Mariko, a poised and mysterious woman who serves as the translator for Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada).

“I don’t know if I’ve seen anything that, as a Japanese person, could say, ‘That is accurate’,” she told Town and Country. “Reading Mariko’s story just really spoke to me so much, and I knew that she was the character that I needed to play.”

She told Billboard, before the ceremony, that it was one of the most mentally challenging roles she has had to play.

“It’s not just the stunts, it’s wearing the costumes, that’s already physically tough … I was dreaming nightmares, so yeah, it was a lot.”

The show had the most nominations, 25, this year and was poised to be the frontrunner since the announcement of the candidates. It had already won 14 Emmys at the Creative Arts Awards the night before and took out the coveted best drama series title today.

Sawai – a first-time nominee – told Seth Meyers in July that she was excited ahead of the nomination announcements but didn’t think she would be in the list.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 15: Anna Sawai accepts the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series award for “Sh?gun” onstage during the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards at Peacock Theater on September 15, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

Anna Sawai was visibly emotional as she walked up to get her award. Photo: Kevin Winter / Getty Images / AFP

The Pachinko actress had spent two years in New Zealand after being born here in 1992.

Her father’s electronics company job saw the family move around the Pacific during her childhood, before settling in Japan at the age of 10. She previously told Stuff that she still identifies as a Kiwi.

She was also in a Japanese pop girl group before she got into acting.

~RNZ