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He said he was tired & wanted to sleep It was a very brief meeting. He said, “I heard about your wonderful performance at Sawai Gandharv. Aise hi gaate rehna, Jasraj.” And then he said, “I am very tired, need to go and catch some sleep.” With him the sun of Hindustani music has set. No one else can be compared to him. He had a ‘buland awaaz’ and his ‘taans’ were electric. He loved everyone and had no bitterness towards anyone. No one encouraged young singers so much. No one gave them the kind of platform he gave. In 1966, he told me, “Jasraj, when I look back, I see you as the most promising vocalist and you must keep at it.” He was full of love and praise for his juniors and always treated others with respect. He took Hindustani classical music to every corner of India. The Sawai Gandharv festival in Pune happened to be one of the country’s greatest annual events. It was said that if you got to sing with Bhimsen, you had made it. I had the good fortune of singing with him. It was in late 70s when we sang together in Raag Malkauns for a movie ‘Birbal: My brother’. He is gone, but his music will be a part of us. In a way, he is alive in all of us, who were witness to his
greatness. (As told to Nidheesh Tyagi)
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‘Manna De was reluctant to sing with me’ landmarks 1972: Padma Shree His most-famous renditions Do you recollect your association with
Pahari Sanyal? Of course, I do. I spent a number of years at his Kolkata residence and fondly remember him singing. I am speaking about the early 1950s. Besides being a highly gifted actor, Pahari was a very efficient singer. He used to conduct his rehearsals regularly and asked me to correct him if I felt he was wrong in his rendering. I also remember seeing Chabi Biswas and Uttam Kumar at his residence. Though a Bengali, Pahari Sanyal had perfect Hindi diction because of his association with
Bhagalpur. How do you differentiate singing Indian classical songs and its western counterparts? Both are poles apart yet alike. Indian classical music is based on seven ragas and 36
raginis. To sing a pure classical song, thorough riyaaz is a must. The right use of vocal chords and balancing the octaves without sounding ‘besura’ is what is required essentially of Indian classical songs. Western classical songs are mainly based on the soprano and tenures, which also require playing with vocal chords in high and low pitch. The similarity between both lies in the fact that none support unnecessary gimmickry or deserve to be forcefully popularised with compromises. What are your memories of rendering ‘Ketaki,
juhi, gulab’ for ‘Basant Bahar’ with Manna De? It is still fresh in my mind. When
Shanker- Jaikishan approached me to render the duet, I asked who would be my co-singer. Jaikishan answered it was Manna De. I at once agreed as I had earlier listened to his songs and knew he was very good at rendering classical songs, his only equal being Mohammed
Rafi. Manna De, at first, was reluctant to sing since in the film sequence where the song was used he scores over me. I explained to him that it was serene rendering of ‘jugalbandi’ by us and not winning or defeating anyone. He agreed and the song was recorded in five takes. Who are the singers you admire? Dr Bal Murli
Krishan, Kishori Amonkar and Dr Soma Ghosh. Whilst the former two are very well-established, Soma Ghosh is the most talented of the younger lot. She is the manasputri of shehnai wizard, the late Bismillah Khan. I have noticed a rare serenity in Ghosh’s rendering and am sure she will go far. What about Lata
Mangeshkar? There is nothing new to say about Lata. She has a magical voice and is an extraordinarily gifted singer, versatile and melodious. Why is classical music losing so
much ground? (Sighs). Neither the government nor any singer is promoting classical music in its purest form. Whatever is being conducted are more of publicity gimmicks. Present-day composers are more like shopkeepers who sell tunes and don’t create them. The youth today is suffering from a deep identity crisis; it’s restless and has no time or patience to hear to and admire classical music.
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He was an incredibly naughty child His father Gurucharya Joshi, a school teacher and a strict disciplinarian, finally found a way out so that his son did not get lost during these escapades. “He stuck a piece of paper on his clothes with ‘Joshi master’s son’ written on it so that Bhimsen could be sent back home by whoever found him”, Sushilendra said. While Bhimsen settled down in Pune, Sushilendra and his three brothers and their mother Godabai, continue to stay in their ancestral house in Gadag in Karnataka where the singer grew up. This reporter caught up with the family on telephone when they were on their way Pune to attend Bhimsen’s funeral. “He also liked listening to the azaan and would visit the mosques on Friday for this”, Sushilendra recalled. Sushilendra said his elder famous elder sibling was also fond of playing football and was quite a tough player “We last met in December when all of us went to Pune to see him. He used to come to Gadag often. He would also call up during occasions such as the Divali and the New Year. Success never went to his head. He always remained a down to earth person”, Sushilendra said and added that Bhimsen was the “skylark” of India. Bhimsen also had a penchant for driving cars. “He would often go for long drives and cover vast distances by car. He would drive down to Kolkata from Bangalore and so on”, Sushilendra said. He and their father were once driven by Bhimsen from Bagalkot to Gadag (85 km). “Bhim Anna seemed to me to be enjoying the vibration and the sound and rhythm of the car”, Sushilendra said. “He particularly liked the Mercedes Benz”, Manoj Hangal, grandson of late Gangubai Hangal, legendary singer and also an exponent of Kirana gharana like Bhimsen, said. Manoj, a resident of Dharwad in Karnataka, told the TNS that the state government should erect a memorial for the departed singer.
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His music was bigger than him Last I saw him was in his car near the podium at the Sawai Gandharv festival in 2008. He had been in hospital and on ventilator support for a long time and couldn’t climb up the stage. As his Mercedes was parked near the podium, a mike was brought to him that December night. He thanked people for coming to the Sawai Gandharv festival and then tried to sing. It wasn’t exactly one of the greatest performances of Bharat Ratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, but you could sense the soaring spirit and a great journey coming to a close even amid the clapping of crowds. He didn’t perform again after 2008. Pandit Joshi remains the largest banyan tree of Hindustani classical music and the most celebrated cultural icon: not just as a music maestro, but as someone who created a huge ecology by spotting talent, training them, encouraging them and giving them a platform to perform. The list of such people is long and impressive. The Sawai Gandharv festival is easily India’s biggest Hindustani classical music event, where one can witness a host of singers — right from some in their teens to Pandit Jasraj — share stage before, perhaps, the most attentive crowd in the country. He was most known for his rendition of the ‘abhangs’ written by Sant Tukaram and Sant Jnandev, who came from the oppressed castes and brilliantly wrote Bhakti poetry for Vithoba of Phandharpur in Maharashtra. And this brought him to the masses in Maharashtra, singing the music of their hearts and giving them a class and respect. Talking to The Tribune over the phone line, his disciple Rahul Deshpande says, “He always told us, ‘Your art is bigger than you’ and he lived by the honesty and truth of his music. I have seen since my childhood and he was always very simple and childlike. I owe my music and identity to Pandit ji and nothing made me happier than the chance to perform before my guru in the Sawai festival in 2006.” As our television sets turned into colour from black and white, we would stop in our tracks to see him leading and setting the tenor of the brilliant chorus of ‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’ encompassing entire India, and in that sense, all of us. We don’t watch Doordarshan that much now, but the composition lives on on Facebook and Youtube. I am one of the many Worldspace widows (people bereaved by its shutting down in India) and Bhimsen Joshi was the last to sing on their Gandharv channel before they switched it off permanently. Music lives on; no one dies in that realm. And we will continue to hear Bhimsen Joshi’s booming voice on mobile phone ringtones singing ‘abhangs’ for Pandharpur’s
Vithoba.
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— Upendra Bhat — Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt — Sanjeev Abhyankar His contribution to Indian classical music is historic. The exuberance, the energy Panditji added to singing was majestic. Though his song ‘Ketaki gulab juhi champa’ in the film ‘Basant Bahar’ was immensely popular, it was steeped in pure classical music. He was a purist and a revolutionary at the same time. — Ramakant Gundecha
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I met him last December at his Pune home after performing at the Sawai Gandharv festival. He hadn’t been keeping well. When he was told about my coming, he came out of his room with some support.
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was already ailing yet he warmly welcomed me at his Pune residence. He was breathing heavily whilst speaking and his eyes showed a crystal clear picture of a bygone era when classical music was considered the real gift of Devi
Saraswati. The Bharat Ratna, known for his superb rendering of ‘Mile Sur Mera
Tumhara’, was saddened by the restless modern generation and how our rich cultural heritage was going down the drain. Little did I know that it was his last interview.
Excerpts:
Incredibly naughty as a child, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, who breathed his last in Pune today, gave a tough time to his parents. “He liked following the band parties who played during weddings. He would simply follow them and later on at night would fall asleep at the very place where the band had taken him”, Sushilendra Joshi, his stepbrother, told The Tribune today.
We feel orphaned today. I gave Panditji sangat for 31 years till he retired a few years ago and I now sing solo. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was the greatest name in Hindustani classical. He may have been born in the Kirana Gharana but he is leaving behind his own gharana. 
Panditji believed in simple living and high thinking. He had no airs and it was this honesty that reflected in his sublime music. He was blessed with a unique voice but equally inimitable were his voice modulations. He never endorsed ‘halka-fulka’ sangeet.
Panditji influenced five generations of singers. He sang from the heart and could touch the hearts of others. So, while he sang for himself, he was simulta neously aware of whether his audiences were able to relate to his music, a reason why he was able to carry them along.