![]() Early Life of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi was born on 14th February 1922, in the town of Ron, in Gadag District of Karnataka. He was the eldest in a family of 16 siblings. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was born to a conservative schoolmaster Gururaj who has written a slender book in Kannada, Naad-Putra, chronicling the life-story of his illustrious son. He would often be seen standing entranced outside a record shop on the main street of Gadag, listening to Fagwaa Brij Dekhan Ko, a Raag Basant composition rendered by Ustad Abdul Karim Khan. At the age of 11years, Joshi left his home to learn singing through the master-disciple tradition or Guru-Shishya tradition. He spent three years in Gwalior, Lucknow and Rampur in North India trying to find a good teacher. ![]() Personal Life of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi Pandit Bhimsen Joshi married to Vatsalabai, who was credited with having effectively intervened to wean her illustrious husband away from the alcohol. Bhimsen Joshi was also very passionate about cars, a football player and an enthusiast of yoga Career of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi In the year 1941 Bhimsen Joshi gave his first live performance at the age 19. The next year, in 1942, he released his debut album consisting of devotional songs in Kannada Language and Hindi Languagethrough the record label of HMV. After he moved to Mumbai in 1943, he worked as a radio artist there.In the year 1946, he did a public concert in Pune to mark the Shashtyabdipoorti, the 60th birthday, of his guru Sawai Gandharva, which got him several accolades both from the audience and his guru. In the early 1970s, with Sant-Vaani, a four-hour concert of devotional music that blended Purandara Dasa with Kabir has been both a commercial success as well as an artistic accomplishment for him. ![]() Achievements of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi Pandit Bhimsen Joshi has been honoured with the Padma Shri Awardin 1972; the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1976 and the Padma Bhushan in 1985. He earned the first platinum disc in the year 1986. * 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 Death of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi On 31st December, 2010 Joshi was admitted to Sahyadri Super Speciality Hospital for the treatment of Gastrointestinal Bleeding and Bilateral Pneumonia. To ease breathing, he was put on ventilator support. But after he was taken off the ventilator, his condition worsened. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi died on January 24th 2011. 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. (Last Updated on : 15-10-2014) |
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