From Mumbai, India (still known by many Westerners as Bombay) comes a story of how Pandit Shivkumar Sharma (a young maestro whose skills on the santoor are claiming a worldwide audience) includes among his audience of fans unborn children!
Indeed, Sharma claims the santoor, an Indian version of the hammered dulcimer, is the favorite instrument of the preborn. Agreement to this belief apparently comes from award-winning pediatric surgeon and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Mumbai, Dr. Snehalata Deshmukh, who has been experimenting with different types of music as therapy for children yet in the womb.
Of course, whether it's the santoor or the saxaphone that preborn kids like most, the critical fact is that they do hear and respond to the gift of music. It is a simple but beautiful piece of evidence of the unmistakable humanity of the preborn.
