Bhimsen Joshi

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Pandit Bhimsen Joshi
Background information
Birth name Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi
Born (1922-02-04)February 4, 1922
Gadag, Karnataka, India)
Died January 24, 2011(2011-01-24) (aged 88)
Pune, Maharashtra
Genres Hindustani classical music
Occupations singer
Years active 1941–2011
Website
Signature of Pt. Bhimsen Joshi

Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi ( pronunciation (help·info)); February 4, 1922 – January 24, 2011) He was an Indian vocalist in the Hindustani classical tradition. He was born in Gadag, Karnataka to a Kannada Madhwa family. [1] He is known for the khayal form of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music (bhajans and abhangs).

In 1998, he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship the highest honour conferred by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama.[2] Subsequently received the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, in 2008.[3]

Early life

Bhimsen Joshi was born in Gadag Karnataka in a Kannada family [1] to Gururaj Joshi, a teacher and Sanskrit scholar who had authored a Kannada-English dictionary, and Godavaraibai, a home-maker.[4][1][5]

Musical training

His first music teacher was Channappa Kurtakoti, who had trained with the veteran singer Inayat Khan. After learning ragas Bhairav and Bhimpalasi, Bhimsen Joshi left him for Pandit Shyamacharya Joshi who hailed from Bagalkot and was a priest and classical singer. Pandit Shyamacharya taught him to sing as well as play the harmonium. Shree Shamacharya Joshi was a Vamshastha of Great Haridasaru Shree Mahipati Dasaru. As revealed by Shree Shamacharya Joshi himself when he was live, it was a turning point in Bhimsen Joshi's life that Shree Shyamachar Joshi went to Bombay for recording his songs by HMV where Shree Bhimsen Joshi also accomapanied him and due to ill health Shree Shayamachar Joshi returned to Bagalkot after recording few Songs and asked Shree Bhimsen Joshi to render rest of the songs which Shree Bhimsen Joshi did & this proved to be a major break through for Shree Bhimsen Joshi in the intitial stage of his carreer. [6]

Search for a guru

Joshi heard a recording of Abdul Karim Khan's Thumri "Piya Bin Nahi Aavat Chain" in Raga Jhinjhoti when he was a child, which inspired him to become a musician. During this time, he also heard Pandit Sawai Gandharva at a performance in Kundgol. In 1933, the 11-year-old Joshi left Dharwad for Bijapur to find a master and learn music. [6][7] With the help of money lent by his co-passengers in the train Bhimsen reached Dharwad first and later went to Pune. Later he moved to Gwalior and got into Madhava Music School, a school run by Maharajas of Gwalior, with the help of famous sarod player Hafiz Ali Khan. He traveled for three years around North India, including in Delhi, Kolkata, Gwalior, Lucknow and Rampur, trying to find a good guru.[8] Eventually, his father succeeded in tracking him down in Jalandar and brought young Bhimsen back home.

Sawai Gandharva

In 1936, Sawai Gandharva, a native of Dharwad, agreed to be his guru. Joshi stayed at his house in the guru-shishya (teacher-student) tradition. Joshi continued his training with Sawai Gandharva till 1940.

Career

Joshi first performed live in 1941 at the age 19. His debut album, containing a few devotional songs in Marathi and Hindi, was released by HMV the next year in 1942. Later Joshi moved to Mumbai in 1943 and worked as a radio artist. His performance at a concert in 1946 to celebrate his guru Sawai Gandharva's 60th birthday won him accolades both from the audience and his guru.[9]

Hindustani classical music

Joshi's performances have been acknowledged by music critics such as S. N. Chandrashekhar of the Deccan Herald to be marked by spontaneity, accurate notes, dizzyingly-paced taans which make use of his exceptional voice training, and a mastery over rhythm.[10] The Hindu, in an article written after he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, said: Bhimsen Joshi was ever the wanderer, engendering brilliant phrases and tans more intuitively than through deliberation.[11] Joshi occasionally employed the use of sargam and tihaais, and often sang traditional compositions of the Kirana gharana. His music often injected surprising and sudden turns of phrase, for example through the unexpected use of boltaans. Over the years, his repertoire tended to favor a relatively small number of complex and serious ragas; however, he remained one of the most prolific exponents of Hindustani classical music. Some of Joshi's more popular ragas include Shuddha Kalyan, Miyan Ki Todi, Puriya Dhanashri, Multani, Bhimpalasi, Darbari, and Ramkali. He was a purist who has not dabbled in experimental forms of music, except for a series of Jugalbandi recordings with the Carnatic signer M. Balamuralikrishna.

Joshi's singing has been influenced by many musicians, including Smt. Kesarbai Kerkar, Begum Akhtar and Ustad Amir Khan. Joshi assimilated into his own singing various elements that he liked in different musical styles and Gharanas.[10]

Devotional music

In devotional music, Joshi was most acclaimed for his Hindi, Kannada and Marathi Bhajan singing. He has recorded bhakti songs in Marathi, Santavani and Kannada, Dasavani. [10]

Patriotic music

Bhimsen Joshi was widely recognized in India due to his performance in the Mile Sur Mera Tumhara music video (1988), which begins with him. The video was created for the purpose of national integration in India, and highlights the diversity of Indian culture. Bhimsen Joshi was also a part of Jana Gana Mana produced by A. R. Rahman on the occasion of 50th year of Indian Republic.

Playback singing

Joshi sang for several films, including Basant Bahar (1956) with Manna Dey, Birbal My Brother (1973) with Pandit Jasraj. He also sang for the films Tansen (1958) and Ankahee (1985) where latter fetched him National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer.[12] His song ‘Bhagyadalakshmi baaramma’, a Purandara Dasa composition, was used by Anant Nag and Shankar Nag in the Kannada film Nodi Swami Naavu Irodhu Heege. [10] He also sang as a playback singer for the Marathi film Gulacha Ganapati, produced and directed by P. L. Deshpande [13]

Sawai Gandharva Music Festival

Joshi along with his friend Vasantrao Deshpande organized the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival as an homage to his guru, Sawai Gandharva, along with the Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal in 1953, marking Gandharva's first death anniversary. The festival has been held ever since, typically on the second weekend of December in Pune, Maharashtra and has become not only a cultural event for the city, but an annual pilgrimage for Hindustani Classical Music lovers all over the world. Joshi conducted the festival annually since 1953, until his retirement in 2002.

Legacy

Bhimsen Joshi was known for his powerful voice, amazing breath control, fine musical sensibility and unwavering grasp of the fundamentals, representing a subtle fusion of intelligence and passion that imparted life and excitement to his music.[14] A classicist by training, and temperament, Bhimsen Joshi was renowned for having evolved an approach that sought to achieve a balance between what may be termed as "traditional values and mass-culture tastes" and as such he went on to have supposedly the largest commercially recorded repertoire in Hindustani vocal music. Pt. Joshi's iconic status in the music world has earned him a whole generation of suni shagirds who by merely listening to him have picked up his style and not through any formal tutelage. His greatest endeavour in perpetuating his legacy could be the Sawai Gandharva Festival held at Pune. annually since the year 1953 which seeks to promote a certain music culture.[14]

Madhava Gudi, Narayan Deshpande, Shrikant Deshpande, Anand Bhate, and Upendra Bhat are some of his more well-known disciples. [6]

Personal life

Joshi was twice-married. His first wife was Sunanda Hunagund, daughter of his maternal uncle, whom he married in 1944. He had four children from Sunanda; Raghavendra, Usha, Sumangala, and Anand. He married Vatsala Mudholkar his co-actor in the Kannada play Bhagya-Shree in 1951. Although bigamous marriages among Hindus were prohibited by law in the Bombay Presidency, he did not divorce or separate from Sunanda. With Vatsala, he had three children; Jayant, Shubhada, and Shrinivas. [6]

Joshi had a passion for cars. He was a swimmer, an enthusiast of yoga and a football player. He had acknowledged his weakness for alcohol but became a teetotaller after it started affecting his career.[14]

Illness and death

Joshi was admitted to Sahyadri Super Speciality Hospital on December 31, 2010 with gastrointestinal bleeding and bilateral pneumonia. Due to difficulty in breathing, he was put on ventilator support. He suffered convulsions and was put on dialysis too during his stay in hospital. Though he recovered briefly for three days when he was taken off the ventilator, his condition deteriorated thereafter. He died on 24 January 2011 .[15] He was cremated at Vaikunth Crematorium in Pune with full state honors.[16]

Awards and recognitions

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Bhimsen Joshi, A biography". 
  2. ↑ "SNA: List of Sangeet Natak Akademi Ratna Puraskarwinners (Akademi Fellows)". Official website. 
  3. ↑ "Bharat Ratna for Vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Joshi". Rediff. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-21. 
  4. ↑ "Bhimsen Joshi passes away". 
  5. ↑ "NY Times Obit". 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Bhimsen Joshi, A biography". 
  7. ↑ "Relentless riyaz- Bhimsen Joshis recipe for success". Deccan Herald. 2008-11-05. Retrieved 2008-11-05. 
  8. ↑ "A class apart". Mumbai Mirror. 2008-11-06. Retrieved 2008-11-18. 
  9. ↑ Chatterji, Shoma A. (7 December 2008). "A living legend". The Sunday Tribune. Retrieved 25 January 2011. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 "Haunting melodic grace of Pandit Bhimsen Joshiji". Deccan Herald. 
  11. ↑ "Seeking the stars". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 2008-11-07. 
  12. ↑ "Bharat Ratna Bhimsen Joshi passes away in Pune". IBN Live. 24 January 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2011. 
  13. ↑ "Bhimsen Joshi, A biography". 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, the glory of Indian music". NDTV. 2011-01-24. Retrieved 2011-01-24. 
  15. ↑ "Pandit Bhimsen Joshi passes away". The Times Of India. 24 January 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2011. 
  16. ↑ "Pt Bhimsen Joshi's funeral held with all state honours". One India. 25 January 2011. Retrieved 25 January 2011. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 "Pandit Bhimsen Joshi: A Profile". ZEE News. 5 November 2008. Retrieved 24 January 2011. 
  18. ↑ Bhimsen Joshi: Living legend in Indian classical music - Entertainment - DNA
  19. ↑ Screen -The Business of Entertainment
  20. ↑ Times Of India Article
  21. ↑ "Award presented to Bhimsen Joshi". The Hindu (Chennai, India). 2003-12-02. 
  22. ↑ Bhimsen Joshi to be presented Swami Haridas Award
  23. ↑ Bhimsen happy about Delhi govt award

Further reading

  • Nadkarni, Mohan (1983). Bhimsen Joshi: the man and his music. Prism Communications. 
  • Nadkarni, Mohan (1994). Bhimsen Joshi: a biography. Indus, New Delhi. ISBN 81-7223-126-1. 
  • Majumdar, Abhik (2004). Bhimsen Joshi: A Passion for Music. Rupa & Co. ISBN 81-291-0354-0. 
Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, a biography  by Dr Sadanand Kanavalli in Kannada

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