He belonged to the Sopore in the Kashmir Valley and belongs to the Sufiana family of Indian classical music. His family has played the santoor for six generations.
Sopori gave his first public event in 1953 at the age of five. He learned Western classical music from the University of Washington and Hindustani from his grandparents.
He built a music academy called SaMaPa (Sopori Academy for Music and Performing Arts) which promotes Indian classical music.