Musicians from Bollywood, including actor-singer Farhan Akhtar and Vishal Dadlani, have condoled the sudden demise of Parikrama lead guitarist Sonam Sherpa.
Sherpa, who was one of the founding members of the rock band, breathed his last on Friday. He was 48. The cause of his death is yet to be ascertained.
In a Twitter posted, Akhtar recalled his meeting with Sherpa in 2008 when he was on a four-city music tour.
"In 2008, post 'Rock On'!!, I was part of a 4 city tour with the amazing Parikrama and I can never forget or adequately say how thankful I am for the love and warmth that Sonam Sherpa extended to this first timer on stage.
"He was a gifted guitarist, a supremely cool guy and a true rock star. RIP brother. Deepest condolences to his family," the actor wrote alongside a photo of his with Sherpa.
Musician Eshsaan Noorani of the popular composer trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy also condoled Sherpa's death.
"Eternal rocker awesome guitarist and a lovely guy #SonamSherpa has gone into the light... will remember the jams and the hang outs @parikrama" he tweeted.
Music director and singer Vishal Dadlani called Sherpa a "true Indian legend".
"#SonamSherpa was more than a guitar-player. He was a pioneer, a teacher and an inspiration to so many. He was also a good friend and always humble despite his brilliance and popularity. Heartbroken. Truly, truly heartbroken," he posted.
The news of Sherpa's demise was confirmed by the band in a post on Instagram.
"With a very heavy heart, we regret to inform the sudden demise of our backbone, Mr Sonam Sherpa. It's very very tough to lose a band mate, a brother and a mentor.
"Thank you all for all your messages and tributes to Sonam, he sure will have a great gig in the sky. Farewell my friend," the band wrote in the post.
Born on October 8, 1971 in West Bengal, Sherpa did his schooling from St. Augustine's School in Kalimpong. He moved to Delhi where he studied B.Com at Kirori Mal College.
Sherpa co-founded Parikrama in June 1991. The band's other members include Nitin Malik (lead vocalist), Saurabh Choudhary (guitarist), Subir Malik (organist, synthesizer), Gaurav Balani (bass guitarist) and Srijan Mahajan (drummer).
Their first rock track was "Xerox", which was dubbed as 'the face of Indian rock'. After that, the band came out with songs like "Till I'm No One Again" and "Open Skies".
However, it was 1996 track "But it rained" which is still considered as their best work. The band had dedicated the song to Kashmir that was witnessing a number of kidnapping incidents during the period.
Sherpa also owned and ran Parikrama school based at Hauz Khas Village area of the national capital.
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