Well known Hindustani vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, who enthralled generations of connoisseurs with his marvelous renditions of classical music, passed away Sahyadri hospital, Mumbai on Monday, 24 January after a prolonged illness. He was 88.
Born to Pundit Guracharya Joshi, a noted Sanskrit scholar on Feb 4, 1922, at Gadag, Bhimsen was a child prodigy. He fell in love with Music at a tender age of 9. He ran away from Dharwad to join Kirana Gharana at Gwalior, under the maestro of those times, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan.Mr. Joshi got a boost to his career during a concert in Pune in January 1946, at the age of 24, on the occasion of the 60th birthday of his guru Sawai Gandharva.
Pandit Bhimsen never compromised with his quality of singing. He had renderd a song in Kannada movie Sandhyaraga, of Anakru, a celebrated Kannada novelist. Nambide ninna... which was a hit song of 1970s. His association with another Music maestro Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, some times ended up in a quarrel, GV Iyer, the Director pacified the two elephants !! 
What distinguished him from the ordinary Vocalists was his powerful voice, amazing breath control, fine musical sensibility and unwavering grasp of the fundamentals that made him the Maestro of Hindustani Music, representing a subtle fusion of intelligence and passion that imparted life and excitement to his music.
Apart from his classical singing he lent his voice to Hindi movie Baant Bahar, and Bhairavi. Mr. Joshi sang as a dhrupad singer for a Bengali film based on the life of Tansen and later sang as a playback singer for Marathi film Gulacha Ganapati, produced and directed by celebrated Marathi humorist Pu La Deshpande.
But it was his Sant Vani recitals, which bore the flair of Marathi Bhakti Sangeet and compositions of Haridasasof Karnataka that added immensely to his popularity in both Maharashtra and Karnataka which have had a long succession of saint-poets.
He was honoured with the Padma Shri (1972), Sangeet Natak Akademi award for Hindustani vocal music (1975), Padma Bhushan (1985) and Madhya Pradesh government’s “Tansen Samman” in 1992. The nation’s highest Civilian Award Bharat Ratna was bestowed on him in 2008.
Mr. Joshi had undergone a surgery for removal of a brain tumor in 1999 followed by a cervical spine operation in 2005.
The maestro’s last surprise public performance that enthralled the audience was during 2007 Sawai Gandharva annual music festival which he himself had started to commemorate the memory of his guru.
People of Karnataka remember him always for his rendition of Dasavani. His Kangalidyaatako kaveri Ragana nodadaa.. of Sri Sripadarajaru, ‘Kailasavasa Gureesha Eeshaa… of Vijaya Dasaru, Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma… of Purandara Dasaru, several compositions on Sri Raghavendra Swamiji of Mantralyam,composed by Abhinava Janardana dasaru are very popular in Kannada.
The Government of Karnataka honoured him.
He was a great devotee of Sri Raghavendra Swamiji of Mantralayam. In fact he ran away from home at 11 years of age to Mantralayam. After receiving Sri Raghavendra’s blessings, he travelled to distant Gwalior with the unsurpassed urge for Music.
Let his Soul rest in Peace. Karnataka missed him. Maharashtra gained him.
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