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 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.
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