Pt Bhajan Sopori and Abhay Rustum Sopori honoured

Released on: April 30, 2008, 10:59 pm

Press Release Author: Deepak Gupta

Industry: Advertising

Press Release Summary: The Prestigious Dogri Sanstha of Jammu is honouring the
Santoor Legend and Music Composer Pandit Bhajan Sopori and the young Santoor Maestro
and Music Composer Abhay Rustum Sopori for their contribution to Dogri music and
language.

Press Release Body: The Prestigious Dogri Sanstha of Jammu is honouring the Santoor
Legend and Music Composer Pandit Bhajan Sopori and the young Santoor Maestro and
Music Composer Abhay Rustum Sopori for their contribution to Dogri music and
language.

Pandit Bhajan Sopori is considered to be a cultural bridge between the State of J&K
and rest of the country. Abhay has created a revolution in J&K State with various
cultural activities and growing the new talents in the State.

Smt. Shameem azad, known as the Melody Queen of the State, and Ms. Ragini Rainu, the
young Sufi Diva, were also felicitated on this occasion for lending their voices to
the recent Dogri Albums and musical hits of Jammu like 'Jammu-a-ne', 'Hai Kajla',
etc. composed by Pandit Bhajan Sopori and Abhay Rustum Sopori

The awards were presented by His Excellency the Governor of J&K - Lt. Gen. S.K.
Sinha at a function held at K.L. Segal Hall, Jammu.

Pandit Bhajan Sopori, realizing the importance of keeping alive the Dogri language,
music and culture, came up with various activities to promote and propagate the
Jammu culture. Appreciating his efforts in spite of his being a Kashmiri and still
working for the cause of Jammu language, the Dogri Sanstha decided to honour him.

Pandit Bhajan Sopori has given a new dimension to the Dogri language and music
creating a new audience for Dogri songs. Its for the first time that Dogri songs
have been promoted in this way which had been done single handedly by Pandit Bhajan
Sopori .

On the footsteps of his father, Abhay Rustum Sopori is contributing to the Dogri
culture and making special efforts to take the music of Jammu to the international
al level.

Pandit Bhajan Sopori has also composed a song depicting the beauty of the land which
is the latest musical hit of Jammu. The song has been written by Sh. Brij Mohan.

Pandit Bhajan Sopori

The Santoor and Pandit Bhajan Sopori are synonymous. Hailed as the "Saint of
Santoor" and the "King of Strings", Pandit Bhajan Sopori has been the pioneer of
Santoor being the first person to play the Indian Classical music on the Santoor way
back in the early 1950s. In his five decades of dedicated work he has explored
various dimensions of the Santoor, carrying out many path-breaking innovations and
has expanded the scope of the Santoor as a classical instrument and formally
established the Sopori Baaj, the only classical style of playing Santoor.

The quiet and unassuming maestro has come long way and composed music for almost
5000 songs in various languages of India and abroad. Panditji has used his Santoor
and his compositions to highlight the concept of oneness and foster unity enshrining
the idea of national integration, humanism and peace amongst the common man and the
youth in particular.

For his enormous contributions, he has received numerous awards including the
prestigious Padma Shri, J&K State Award (the highest civilian award of the J&K
State), National Sangeet Natak Academy Award, Delhi Ratan Award, Sangeet Vibhuti
award, Delhi Telugu Academy Award, Akashwani Annual Awards, Shiromani Award, Beenkar
Samman, Punjab Sakha Award, Shardha Samman, Sangeet Ratna Samman and many more. He
has also been honoured with the National Flag of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

Abhay Rustum Sopori

VERSATILE is one word that describes Abhay, for he is the youngest Santoor maestro,
youngest classical musician to compose and conduct orchestras and folk ensembles,
and also the youngest artist from the country to be awarded the prestigious Sangeet
Natak Academy Award - Ust. Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, 2006. He has also been
honoured with the prestigious Sangeet Bhushan Award - 2007, Excellence Award -2007,
Youngs India Award - 2006 and Kalawant Samman - 2004, amongst others. With many
notable albums to his credits, he has participated in various prestigious
International festivals across the world.

Abhay has composed music for \'Mahatma\', a film by Government of India on Mahatma
Gandhi, presented at the \'United Nations\' marking the 1st International non-violence
day. He was also invited as visiting faculty at the University of Massachusetts
(USA) to conduct classes on Indian music. Abhay, a gifted and prodigious musician,
has inherited a profound sense of music from his fabled Sufiana Gharana of Kashmir
(exclusive Santoor family), under the traditional Guru-Shishya Parampara, with its
roots of Santoor playing, spanning nine generations, over more than 200 years.

Abhay's recent music album, released by the world's leading music label EMI, Dancing
Dewdrops has been acclaimed as one of the finest experimental music albums of the
country.


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