Rahul Sharma

With more than 26 soundtrack credits to his name, the Indian vocalist and musician Rahul Sharma is one of the premier exponents of India's most distinctive traditional instrument, the hundred-string santoor. Played with two lightweight wooden mallets the santoor requires great skill and dexterity to play and there are relatively few true masters of the instrument. Sharma began learning the santoor from the age of 13, taught by his father who was also a musician and a well known master of the santoor. When he was 24, having completed his studies at college in Mumbai, the young musician began accompanying his father at live concerts. As his confidence and ability grew Sharma began to emerge from his father's shadow and build his name as a solo performer. In addition to his work on soundtracks for film and TV, Sharma recorded more than 60 albums and has merged traditional Indian influences into some surprising genres including rock, pop, jazz and electronica. A collaboration he did with the American Grammy Award-winning saxophonist Kenny G went to number two on Billboard's World Chart and launched Sharma's career onto the world stage. Other notable collaborations include projects with pianists Richard Clayderman and Kersi Lord. He has now performed throughout the US and Europe and regularly makes live appearances at folk and world music festivals.

Please enable Javascript to view this page competely.