In the summertime of 2024, my mom despatched me a reel on Instagram through which a younger man in his mid-twenties was enjoying a good looking rendition of “Tum Hello Dekho Na” from the film “Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna” on his sitar. The tune was so melodious that I noticed that 90-second reel for round 20-25 minutes. This made me curious, and I searched extra about this gifted musician. Whereas looking for this tune on the web, I realized that the artist’s identify was Rishab Rikhiram Sharma, a sitar participant and the final disciple of the legendary Pt. Ravi Shankar.
That is how I received to find out about Rishab’s music and his journey into this realm. His music made a quiet impression on me, and as quickly as he introduced his India tour, I knew I needed to see him reside. Rishab carried out to a sold-out crowd in Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Enviornment, and for nearly 2 hours, he mesmerized everybody along with his attraction, expertise, and soulful music.
From the primary observe of Tilak Shyam, it was evident that this was not going to be an strange sitar recital. With light strokes and a gradual rhythm, Rishab constructed a meditative environment. He let the raga unravel step by step, with grace and depth. The meends had been elegant, the jod part stretched with care, and his taans flowed like poetry. It was the proper approach to open the night, rooted in custom, calm but commanding. Nonetheless, earlier than he started his efficiency, he began the night time with a little bit train the place he instructed a crowd of 14,000 to inhale and exhale by placing one hand on their coronary heart, and the opposite on the stomach. This was to chill out everybody in order that they might benefit from the music wholeheartedly. However it appeared he did that to calm himself as effectively earlier than the performances started, and the environment began getting a bit extra energetic.
(Picture Courtesy: @rishabsmusic/Instagram)
After the melodious introduction to Tilak Shyam, Rishab Rikhiram Sharma seemed extra relaxed and began acting on his standard tracks. First got here Shiv Kailashon Ke Vaasi, a robust composition impressed by Lord Shiva’s cosmic abode. The artist transitioned from the calm of Tilak Shyam to the depth of devotion. The slow-burning tune was spiritually wealthy, and because the different devices joined in, the efficiency lifted into one other realm. It wasn’t simply technical brilliance, it was the best way he communicated devotion by way of each pluck and pause. Folks didn’t simply hear the music, they felt it. It was one of many performances that introduced a tear to many eyes, not due to how intense it was, however due to how pure it was.
In the meantime, Roslyn, a fragile authentic composition, was quiet and inward-looking. That piece had restraint, melancholy, and vulnerability. The silence between the notes spoke as loudly because the notes themselves.
After which got here the sudden: a sitar rendition of Kal Ho Na Ho. He started the efficiency by telling the viewers to snap their fingers in a rhythm for some time, and nobody knew what was going to come back. Nonetheless, he took everybody by storm as quickly as he hit the primary observe. There’s all the time a danger if you take one thing iconic and emotional as this Sonu Nigam traditional, and interpret it on a classical instrument. However Rishab didn’t simply pull it off, he elevated it. The melody flowed superbly on the sitar, and by the point he reached the refrain, folks had been misplaced in folks had been misplaced in a wave of reminiscence and that means. It was deeply nostalgic and a transparent nod to how versatile Indian classical devices might be.
He additionally gave a tribute to his trainer, Pt. Ravi Shankar, by enjoying one of the extraordinary songs, Saare Jahaan Se Accha, on the sitar. In that second, Rishab turned a bridge between the outdated and the brand new, the purist and the favored.
(Picture Courtesy: @rishabsmusic/Instagram)
The temper instantly shifted when he performed one other of his standard tracks, Chanakya, which introduced in a totally completely different power. It was sharp, stuffed with technique, identical to the person it’s named after. That is the place Rishab didn’t maintain again, and his storytelling by way of the sitar shone. Every taan felt like a well-thought-out argument in a debate. The viewers was hooked, and applause erupted halfway—not one thing you normally hear throughout Indian classical concert events. However that’s the Sharma impact. He makes classical music really feel fast and pressing. Simply once we thought the emotional waves had crested, Rishab introduced out the ultimate act of the night time—Taandav. And it wasn’t only a finale, it was a storm. It was pure adrenaline, and the corridor vibrated with the power.
Because the present ended, all of us felt we had seen one thing particular. However, as a journalist, I wanted to know the way others felt. So, I talked to folks and so they shared how they felt. For Neeti, a resident of Noida, this present was “past something she anticipated.” Furthermore, she felt that the tunes he performed had been “extremely calming and therapeutic, and felt like a mild reset” for her “thoughts and soul.” In the meantime, for Samyak, it was an “emotional rollercoaster” efficiency that introduced tears to his eyes. In actuality, it was not only a efficiency, however a remedy session.
What makes Rishab Rikhiram Sharma so impactful isn’t just his command over the sitar—it’s his skill to make classical music really feel alive, related, and emotionally direct. For anybody who doubts whether or not classical music can nonetheless transfer at present’s audiences, this live performance was a transparent, hard-hitting reply. Rishab will not be the way forward for Indian classical music. He’s its current, burning vivid with ardour, energy, and precision.
Rishab Rikhiram Sharma is at present touring India.
