24/01/2011
Bhimsen Joshi passes away
Pune: Legendary Hindustani vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, 89, passed away here on Monday morning. He was critical and battling for life for over a week at the Sahyadri Hospital here.

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi receiving the Bharat Ratna in 2008
The Kirana gharana maestro was on ventilator support for three days. However, his condition deteriorated on Saturday.
Bhimsen was known for his unique voice and his mastery over the Kirana gharana style. He had sung many songs in Hindi, Marathi and Kannada. His bhajans too were famous. His rendition in the national integration song was an outstanding piece.
Bhimsen was admitted to the hospital following a severe bout of diarrhoea. He was put on respiratory support for about a week.

The last of the titans of Hindustani classical music, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was a rare genius who could transcend the mundane and transport his audience to the sublime with his gifted voice that captured both anguish and ecstasy.
What made him arguably the most popular Hindustani music vocalist of the current times was his impassioned renditions with a powerful and penetrating voice that showcased the aesthetic majesty of the 'Kirana' gharana of which he was the celebrated exponent, as also the eloquent expression of light classical, devotional and the popular variety.
It was an awe-inspiring fusion of intelligence and passion that perhaps separated Joshi from other classical vocalists who dogmatically stuck to their 'Gharana' culture with a rigidity that possibly inhibited creativity.
Born on February 4, 1922 at Gadag in Dharwad district of Karnataka, his journey to the stardom in the world of Hindustani music was just as dramatic as it was arduous for one who decided to run away from home at a tender age of 11, in quest of finding a 'Guru' to learn music.
A man of many parts, car driving was a passion for Joshi, who was also an expert swimmer, a keen enthusiast of yoga and a football player in his younger days. He had acknowledged his weakness for alcohol but left it in 1979 after it started affecting his career.
Be it sobriety or inebriation, the popularity and magnetism of this genius never ever faded.
Honours and awards came his way--- Padma Shri (1972), Sangeet Natak Akademi award for Hindustani vocal music (1975), Padma Bhushan (1985) and Madhya Pradesh government's "Tansen Samman" in 1992. He received the Bharat Ratna in 2008.

| PUNE: Legendary vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, who enthralled generations of connoisseurs with his renditions of Hindustani classical music, passed away at a city hospital on Monday after a prolonged illness. He was 88. A recipient of Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award, Joshi had been put on life support system following old age- related ailments leading to kidney and respiratory failure after his admission to hospital on December 31, his family said. | |

Joshi, the most-celebrated exponent of 'Kirana gharana' of Khansahib Abdul Karim Khan, leaves behind three sons and a daughter. A pall of gloom descended upon the city as the news of his demise spread with people making a beeline to his residence to pay their last respects to the singer who was the most powerful figure on the Hindustani music concert platform of 'khayal gayki'. Born on February 4, 1922 at Gadag in Dharwad district of Karnataka, Joshi got a boost to his career during a concert in Pune in January 1946 on the occasion of the 60th birthday of his guru Sawai Gandharva. What distinguished him from the ordinary was his powerful voice, amazing breath control, fine musical sensibility and unwavering grasp of the fundamentals that made him the supreme Hindustani vocalist, representing a subtle fusion of intelligence and passion that imparted life and excitement to his music. In the forays he made outside the classical fold, Joshi lent is voice as a "dhrupad" singer for a Bengali film based on the life of Tansen and later sang as a playback singer for Marathi film Gulacha Ganapati, produced and directed by celebrated Marathi humorist "Pu La" Deshpande in addition to Hindi movies Basant Bahar and Bhairavi. But it was his 'Sant Vani' recitals, which bore the flair of Marathi 'Bhakti Sangeet' that added immensely to his popularity in both Maharashtra and Karnataka which have had a long succession of saint-poets. He was honoured with the Padma Shri (1972), Sangeet Natak Akademi award for Hindustani vocal music (1975), Padma Bhushan (1985) and Madhya Pradesh government's "Tansen Samman" in 1992. Bharat Ratna was bestowed on him in 2008. Joshi had undergone a surgery for removal of a brain tumor in 1999 followed by a cervical spine operation in 2005. The maestro's last surprise public performance that regaled the audience was during 2007 'Sawai Gandharva' annual music festival which he himself had started to commemorate the memory of his guru. |
Bhimsen Joshi was awarded India's highest civilian honour in 2008
One of India's most famous musicians, Bhimsen Joshi, has died at a hospital in the western city of Pune, aged 89.
A legendary singer of Hindustani classical music, Joshi had been ailing for some time and was being treated at the hospital for nearly a month.
Joshi received India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 2008.
The maverick singer was one of the few classical musicians to record film music. He also participated in a popular national integration jingle.
Indian musicians paid rich tributes to Joshi.
Singer Shubha Mudgal said his death came as a "big shock for all students of music in India".
She said despite Joshi's series of illnesses, he would "rejuvenate himself" and begin singing again.
"An era of Hindustani classical music has ended. One of the pillars is gone," said singer Shankar Mahadevan.
Born in 1922 in Gadag in southern Karnataka state, Joshi left home at the age of 11 to pursue his musical dreams.
He hopped from one long distance train to another, paying for his tickets by singing to ticket collectors.
He was even arrested a few times for travelling ticketless.
He also sought out households where he heard musicians lived and worked as servants - the young Joshi once worked as a servant at leading Bengali actor Pahari Sanyal's house after he heard that the actor was very fond of music.
Joshi eventually returned home to train under a teacher.
He worked as a staff musician at India's state-run radio station, All India Radio, before he recorded for the first time in 1944.
Joshi was a prolific performer, travelling extensively at home and abroad and aggressively promoting his overseas concerts through poster campaigns.

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, who holds a legendary status in Indian Classical music was born in Gadag (Karnataka) on 14 February 1922. His unique style and mastery over ragas has made him un parallel to any other vocalist in the country.

A conservative schoolmaster's son, Bhimsen Joshi had a passion for music even from his early childhood. The little boy deeply moved by a recording of Abdul Karim Khan, the founder father of the 'Kirana gharana', was later destined to become an accomplished jewel of the gharana. He left home in 1932 and was on the move for the next two years in search of a guru. He travelled to Bijapur, Pune, Gwalior where he tutored under Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan, the well-known sarodiya and father of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, then to Calcutta, Punjab and back home, only to goad his father into sending him to Sawai Gandharva for training.

In 1936, Joshi started his rigorous training under Sawai Gandharva (Pandit Rambhan Kundgolkar), the eminent Khyal singer student of Abdul Karim Khan at Kundgol, near Gadag. He taught him the basics of Khayal singing. The tutoring spanning several years honed his inborn talent and helped him attain his mastery over ragas.

Bhimsen Joshi sings in the khayal style and has also rendered heavenly thumris and bhajans. Some of his popular numbers are 'Piya milan ki aas', 'Jo bhaje hari ko sada', 'Mile sur mera tumhara' etc. He has improvised and combined ragas to form new ragas like the Kalashri (Kalavati and Rageshri) and LalitBhatiyar (Lalit and Bhatiyar ragas) and has also developed and excelled in an unique style of singing adapting characteristics from other gharanas. Be it a new raga or a bhajan, khyal or kirti he performs with absolute ease moving from one pitch to another in the same breath effortlessly. His first public concert, to mark the shashtyabdipoorti (60th birthday) of his guru Sawai Gandharva, was held in Pune in January 1946. By the early 50's his voice became known throughout the country and then he began to travel extensively in India and abroad giving concerts.

This musical marvel is the recipient of prestigious awards like the Padma Shri from the Indian government, Sangeet Natak Academy Award, the Mysore Sangeet Natak Academy Award etc. Every year he has been conducting a music festival at Pune with performances of famous classical musicians, to observe his Gurus death anniversary. He married twice, the second time to Valsalabai his own disciple who played a big role in his success. Apart from singing his other passion was automobiles, where he had a definite flair for fixing engines. In his eighties now, the Pundit who had been riding the crest of popularity for the last several decades has announced his retirement plan in a recent concert. Connoisseurs of classical music the world over are going to miss the divine musical experience of hearing this master sing.

Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi is a renowned vocalist in India. A descendant of the Kirana Gharana (stream) of Hindustani classical music tradition, he is particularly renowned for Khayal form singing.

Tansen of today -- this is how he is regarded by his conptemporaries. Pandit ji is considered as one of the very best singers alive today. From the very beginning of his career he has been very popular, and today without doubt holds the throne as the king of Hindustani classical singing.

He currently lives and teaches music in Pune, India.
Background
The education of this music form, till first half of 20th century, was carried out through Master-disciple (or the Guru Shishya) tradition. Sawai Gandharva was the chief disciple of Abdul Karim Khan, who along with his cousin Abdul Waheed Khan was the founder of the Kirana Gharana school of Hindustani music.
Early life
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was born in a small town Gadag, in the Dharwad district of Karnataka in South India. His father was a conservative school-master. In 1933, the 11-year-old Bhimsen left his home on his own to learn singing through Guru-Shishya (or the Master-disciple) tradition. He spent three years in Gwalior, Lucknow and Rampur in North India trying to find a good guru. His father succeeded in tracking him and bringing young Bhimsen back home.

In 1936, Rambhau Kundgolkar, popularly known as Sawai Gandharva, agreed to teach Bhimsen in Hindustani classical music. Bhimsen Joshi stayed with Sawai Gandharva between 1936 and 1940. He then left his guru and set out on his own with a strict regimen of up to sixteen hours of daily riyaz (practice).

Bhimsen Joshi first performed live at the age 19. His debut album, a few devotionals songs in Kannada and Hindi, was released when he was 20.

Later he was to start an annual classical musical festival called the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival' in the memory of his guru. This festival is held in Pune every December.

When S M Krishna was CM of Karnataka Bhimsen Joshi offered him to bring rain by his singing prowess to drought hit north Karnataka. Also his famous Bhagyada Lakshmi Baaramma sung for Kannada movie (playback for Anant Nag) with so much of devotion that it is heard in every household of the state.
Awards and recognitions * Padma Shree in 1972 * The Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1976 * Padma Bhushan in 1985 * First platinum disc in 1986 * Padma Vibhushan in 1999