ASU will be offered a touch of Indian culture at 6:30 tonight at the Arizona Ballroom in the Memorial Union.
The Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth and the Association for India's Development are jointly presenting "An Evening of Santoor."
Famous musicians Shivkumar Sharma, Rahul Sharma and Ustad Shafaat Ahmed Khan will kick off their official tour in Tempe, with later stops in San Diego and Cincinnati.
Father Shivkumar Sharma took on his son Rahul Sharma as a disciple early on in life and taught him the art of santoor, a wooden string instrument shaped like a trapezoid.
The father-and-son duo will be accompanied by Khan, who will be playing the tablas, another Indian instrument which is much like a traditional drum, except sticks are discarded and replaced by the artists hands. The joint product of the santoor and the tabla results in classical music that is renowned across the world.
Shivkumar Sharma has received various awards and honors, including the Padmavibhushan, the second-highest civilian award in India.
Sharma has also scored music for various Hindi films. He produced "City of the Valley", a raga-based thematic album, which is the highest-selling Indian classical music album.
Sudarshan Suresh, an ASU graduate research assistant and vice president of AID, said Sharma is a distinguished artist who has played the santoor throughout various concert halls in the world, including Carnegie Hall in New York City.
"The music of this 65-year-old genius has been reverberating in concert halls around the world since 1955," said Suresh.
According to Suresh, the trio decided to perform at ASU because they have never performed in Arizona, and the musicians wanted to bring Indian classical music to the residents of the valley.
AID is a worldwide organization that brings events such as this concert to the Valley to help raise funds, which will be donated to various causes in India.
Prashant Nair, vice president of SPICMACY, said the proceeds will assist in causes including sending disabled children to school, helping poor people in rural areas get jobs and helping Indian women become more independent.
Reach the reporter at jenifer.javia@asu.edu.
