Bhimsen Joshi
Acknowledged as the leading light of the Kirana gharana, Bhimsen
Gururaj Joshi was born on 14 February 1922 as a conservative school master’s son
of Gadag, an idyllic village in Dharwad district of Karnataka. At a young age he
was deeply moved by a recording of Abdul Karim Khan, a great master of the
Kirana gharana, from where started his rigorous training under Pandit Rambhan
Kundgolkar, also known as Sawai Gandharva at Kundgol, who himself was a pupil of
Abdul Karim Khan for 10 to 12 years.
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi has added his own distinctive style,
excelling in gamakar, meend and tanakriya and adapting characteristics from
other gharanas to create a unique vocal idiom. His seemingly effortless
performances are the result of relentless riyaz. He earned his first platinum
disc in 1986. He has been honoured with the Padma Shree in 1972, the Sangeet
Natak Akademi Award in 1976 and the Padma Bhushan in 1985.
For over four decades Pandit Bhimsen Joshi has led the
renaissance of Indian classical music with the passion and power of a one-man
chorus. It is an epic saga of struggle, of a single-pointed thirst for music.
Perhaps that is why Pandit Bhimsen Joshi has been a daredevil, a risk-taker for
most of his life. Through his amazing absorption of the soul of various gayaki
styles, he has created a unique blend, adding his own introspective aesthetic
sense. His narrative and structure is never inaccurate and he presents his music
where the listener finds the raga engulfing him from all sides.
