A musician who captivated his audience for decades, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was nurtured and shaped by a musical culture that had multiple resonances, of grammatical structures, conceptual patterns and modes of imagination and expression. All these came from individual artistes and the rich traditions they belonged to, and swore by.
What would Bhimsen Joshi have been, had he not been the greatest vocalist of our times? The 12-year-old unbending, resolute Bhimsen ran away from home in pursuit of music, to sing like Abdul Karim Khan(the founder of Kirana Gharana) when asked to become an engineer by his father. Bhimsen returned home only to run away again. Though this time the reason was absolutely frivolous. His mother refused to give him an extra dollop of ghee!
On both these occasions, Bhimsen’s course of action was uncharted. He was only sure of his destination, music! And this was the pattern his life followed for times to come. He lived on an impulse, the call of the moment.
Nothing, not even the fear of hardships ever deterred him. From sleeping on Mumbai’s railway platforms, eating leftovers that people gave him, and working as a domestic servant in the house of the then film actor Pahadi Sanyal, to passing out in hunger next to a mosque in Bijapur, roaming around in Dharwad and Pune, and drawing endless pitchers of water from the well, his life has been a roller-coaster ride! But he refused to give up till he found his teacher and learned music.
Then he met Pandit Sawai Gandharva of Kirana Gharana who trained him along with Gangubai Hangal, Basavaraj Rajguru and Pt.Feroze Dastur. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi moved to Mumbai in 1943 and worked as a Radio Artist. His first live performance was at the age of 19. Soon after, at the age of 22, he released his debut album on devotional songs in Kannada and Hindi, which created waves in the music industry.
Bhimsen’s music has been hailed by both critics and the masses, with his performances marked by spontaneity and accurate notes. But he is most popular for his specialization in ragas – Shuddha Kalyan, Miyan Ki Todi and Darbari raga. The newer generation connect with Pandit Bhimsen Joshi for his much known rendition of the ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’ music video.
Born in Gadag district of Karnataka on February 4, 1922, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was conferred the most prestigious Bharat Ratna in 2008.