Kaajee Singh, a renowned percussionist from Kalimpong who received the Padma Shri in 2022, died on Tuesday night. He was 80.

Family sources said Singh died at a private nursing home at around 11pm on Tuesday night. He was suffering from age-related ailments.

Sikkim chief minister Prem Singh Tamang (Golay), Gorkhaland Territorial Administration chief executive Anit Thapa and Darjeeling MP Raju Bista send condolence messages to his family.

Kaajee dedicated his life to documenting the shree maadal, an important instrument used in Gorkha/Nepali folk music, and spreading awareness of it.

He researched for 54 years the “notional system” of the maadal and the traditional folk song “Maadaleygeet.”

Kaajee, who took lessons in shree maadal from his father Indrajit Singh Sardar, went to Mumbai in 1974 and worked with renowned Bollywood music composers like Laxmikant- Pyarelal and Kalyanji-Anandji.

He invented the classical notations for shree madal in 1974 and wrote over five books on instruments and folk music.

He also ran the Sanskriti Sanrakshan Sansthan in Kalimpong.

He is survived by his wife, son and a daughter.