Page 53 - Seniors Today - January Issue

Once Upon a Time | Music
Are you
Pt Bhimsen Joshi?
Narendra Kusnur looks back on his association with the maestro and the
musical magic he wove
Very often, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi’s concerts
would end with a devotional song. It could be
the famous bhajan ‘Jo Bhaje Hari Ko Sada’ in
raag Bhairavi, the abhang ‘Teerth Vithal’ in
Ahir Bhairav or the Kannada gem ‘Bhagyada
Lakshmi Baaramma’. Th audience would be
on a spiritual high, humming the tune at the
exit and even when they reached home.
January 24 will mark 10 years since the
Bharat Ratna left us, but the impact his
music created hasn’t diminished among his
followers. On February 4, they will celebrate
his 99th birth anniversary, ringing in the
centenary. The year-long tributes will feature
the event Khayal Yadnya at the Yashwantrao
Chavan Auditorium in Kothrud, Pune,
from February 12 to 14. Organised by
Sangeetacharya Pt DV Kanebuva Pratisthan,
it will feature some of India’s leading
vocalists, besides plenty of upcoming talent.
The term Khayal Yadnya couldn’t have been
more appropriate, as Joshi was one of the
foremost torchbearers of the khayal tradition
of Hindustani vocal music. Though he
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #19 | JANUARY 2021
represented the Kirana gharana, his influence
on singers from other styles was enormous
too, whether it was in trying to copy his style
of delivery, his approach to a raag or even his
stage mannerisms.
Diehard followers would study his work
extensively, often discussing each raag he
sang and getting into finer nitty-gritty on
how he presented the same composition in
different recitals. The lay listener knew him
for other reasons, most likely for the national
integration song ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’
or for the story of his running away from his
place in Gadag district of north Karnataka in
search of a guru.
Joshi’s childhood story is fascinating. His
father Gururaj Joshi was a schoolteacher,
and Bhimsen was the eldest of 16 siblings.
He was enamoured by music from an early
age, and initially learnt from Channappa and
Shyamacharya Joshi, whom he accompanied
to Bombay for a recording. He decided to
take up music full-time after hearing Kirana
gharana founder Ustad Abdul Karim Khan’s
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