Bhimsen Joshi life and biography

Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi was an Indian vocalist in the Hindustani classical tradition. A member of the Kirana Gharana (school), he is renowned for the khayal form of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music (bhajans and abhangs). He is the most recent recipient of the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, awarded in 2008.

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is the numero uno among Hindustani classical vocalists. He is considered as the leading light of the Kirana gharana. Bhimsen Joshi is renowned for his unique style and mastery over ragas.

Bhimsen Joshi was born in Gadag (Karnataka) on February 14, 1922. His father was a schoolmaster. Bhimsen Joshi developed passion for music from early childhood. As a child he was deeply moved by a recording of Abdul Karim Khan, the founder father of the ' Kirana gharana'. He left home in 1932 in search of a guru. He wandered for two years and traveled to Bijapur, Pune, and Gwalior. He tutored under Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan in Gwalior. He also went to Calcutta and Punjad before returning home.

In 1936, Bhimsen Joshi started his rigorous training under Sawai Gandharva (Pandit Rambhan Kundgolkar), the eminent Khayal singer and student of Abdul Karim Khan at Kundgol, near Gadag. He learnt the basics of Khayal singing and was under Sawai Gandharva's tutelage for several years. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi enriched the Kirana gharana by adding his own distinctive style and adapting characteristics from other gharanas to create a unique vocal idiom. He has improvised and combined ragas to create new ragas like the Kalashri and LalitBhatiyar.

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is an exponent of khayal style and has also rendered majestic thumris and bhajans. He gave his first public concert in Pune in January 1946 to mark the shashtyabdipoorti (60th birthday) of his guru Sawai Gandharva. Some of the famous numbers sung by Bhimsen Joshi are 'Piya milan ki aas', 'Jo bhaje hari ko sada', and 'Mile sur mera tumhara'.

Bhimsen Joshi is the recipient of several prestigious awards. These include:

* 1972 - Padma Shree
* 1976 - Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
* 1985 - Padma Bhushan
* 1985 - National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer
* 1986 - "First platinum disc"
* 1999 - Padma Vibhushan
* 2000 - "Aditya Vikram Birla Kalashikhar Puraskar"
* 2001 - "Nadoja Award" from Kannada University
* 2002 - Maharashtra Bhushan
* 2003 - "Swathi Sangeetha Puraskaram" by Government of Kerala
* 2005 - Karnataka Ratna
* 2008 - Bharat Ratna
* 2008 - "Swami Haridas Award"
* 2009 - "Lifetime achievement award" by Delhi government
* 2010 - "S V Narayanaswamy Rao National Award" by Rama Seva Mandali, Bangalore

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