Sunday, August 18, 2013
PANDIT BHIMSEN GURURAJ JOSHI (February 4, 1922 –
January 24, 2011), was an Indian vocalist in the Hindustani
classical tradition. He was born in Gadag, Karnataka to
a Kannada Madhwa family. He is known for the khayalform
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. Subsequently received the Bharat
Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, in 2008.
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.
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. 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. Joshi occasionally employed the use
of sargamand 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.
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