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Viral video features Yusof Behkar from Iran playing the ‘Qanun’

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A video showing a boy playing a musical instrument (Qanun) is going viral on social media platforms, claiming that it features renowned Indian Santoor player Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma’s grandson Abhinav playing the Santoor (here, here, here, and here). Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.

The archived version of this post can be found here.

Claim: Video showing renowned Indian Santoor player Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma’s grandson, Abhinav, playing the Santoor.

Fact: The boy featured in the viral video is not Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma’s grandson. The video actually shows Yusof Behkar from Tehran, Iran, playing the musical instrument known as the ‘Qanun’. According to reports, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma’s younger son, Rahul, has a son named Abhinav, who also plays the Santoor. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.

The musical instrument the boy plays in the viral video is known as the Qanun. The Qanun is different from the Santoor. The Santoor is played with specially shaped picks called mezrabs, while the qanun is played with the fingernails (here, & here).

To learn more about the viral video, we conducted a Google reverse image search using keyframes from the video. This search led us to the same video posted on an Instagram account named “bahman_behkar_kanoun” on 03 May 2024. The video describes the boy playing the musical instrument as @yusof_behkar. According to details provided on the Instagram account, Bahman Behkar identifies himself as a musician from Shahrak-E Ekbatan, Tehran, Iran. We also found that the boy in the viral video is present in Bahman Behkar’s profile picture on Instagram and featured in many videos posted on his account (here and here). Additionally, Bahman Behkar posted the same viral video on his YouTube account on 04 May 2024, which also contains several videos featuring the boy from the viral video (here and here).

We then located @yusof_behkar’s Instagram account. There are many videos of Yusof Behkar playing the qanun on his Instagram page (here and here). We also found a video on his Instagram page where he plays the qanun while wearing the same yellow T-shirt as in the viral video (here). From this, it is clear that the viral video features Yusof Behkar from Tehran, Iran, playing the qanun.

Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma was an Indian classical musician and renowned Santoor player. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1986, and the Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan awards in 1991 and 2001, respectively. He also received honorary citizenship from the city of Baltimore, USA, in 1985 (here, here, & here). Sharma collaborated with Indian flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia and composed music for Bollywood movies under the collaborative name Shiv-Hari. He passed away on 10 May 2022. For more information about Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, see here. According to reports, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma had two children, Rohit and Rahul. Pandit Sharma’s younger son, Rahul, has a son named Abhinav, who also plays the Santoor.

To sum up, the viral video features Yusof Behkar from Iran playing the musical instrument known as the ‘qanun’.

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