Pandit Bhajan Sopori (June 22, 1948 – June 2, 2022) was an Indian santoor player, musicologist, composer, and teacher born in Srinagar. Hailing from the Sufiana gharana, Sopori traced his musical lineage through six generations of santoor experts. He gave his first public performance at age five and later studied western classical music at Washington University in St. Louis, where he also taught. Sopori was recognized for developing the “Sopori Baaj” playing style, which featured an expanded santoor covering more than 5 1/2 octaves and the addition of sympathetic strings. He founded the academy SaMaPa (Sopori Academy for Music and Performing Arts) to promote Indian classical music and facilitate music therapy in jails. Sopori received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1992 and the Padma Shri in 2004. He died of colon cancer in Gurugram in 2022.
