Santoor maestro and renowned music composer Pandit Bhajan Sopori passes away

Santoor maestro and renowned music composer Pandit Bhajan Sopori has passed away. He was undergoing treatment at Fortis Hospital in Gurugram.

Born in 1948, Pandit Bhajan Sopori hailed from the Sopore valley of Kashmir. He belonged to the Sufiana gharana of Indian classical music.

Bhajan Sopori delivered his first performance at the age of five in 1953. In a career spanning over several decades, he performed in Egypt, England, Germany as well as the US.

He learned western classical music from Washington University and Hindustani from his grandfather, SC Sopori, and father, Shambhoo Nath. In fact, Bhajan Sopori also taught music at Washington University.

Sopori was honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1992 and the Padma Shri in 2004 for his contribution to Indian classical music.

"Pandit Bhajan Sopori was diagnosed with colon cancer stage IV. The disease had spread to the liver and bones. He was under treatment at Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI), Gurugram, since February 2022 and had received chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy over the last couple of months. He was admitted at FMRI on May 18, 2022, after his condition had deteriorated. He succumbed to multi-organ failure today on June 2," an official statement by Fortis, Gurugram stated.