Pandit 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.