Pt. Bhimsen Joshi

 Lot of things came into my mind, when I read the sad demise of Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, on 24-Jan. My first brush with Panditji's voice, was of course his rendition of Bhagyada Lakshmi Baaramma. This song, penned by, Purandaradaasa, had been a well know song, with only a few. Set to Madhyamaavati raga and in carnatic style, the women used to sing it every friday while lakshmi pooja and it used to be the last song in some carnatic music concerts. In comes Panditji with a very different tune, and set in what we might call the hindustani style and this song is now known even in the remotest part of Karnataka and I even dare say perhaps the one song which most people know in Karnataka, cutting across all sections of the society.

This one song is more than enough to get a hang of Panditji's voice, depth of voice and dedication. I was fortunate enough to listen this song live, in a concert in Bangalore and it was electrifying. I'm yet to witness the kind of histeria that this song created amongst a very knowledgeable crowd. There is something in this song and no one can escape without being cast in its spell.

I never realized that this would just be a beginning of my own journey towards exploring hindustani music. I had been brought up with a steady dose of top quality carnatic music. But Bhimsen Joshi changed my world of music. My next brush with his music was his series of abhangvaani albumns. Especially Maazhe Maadhera Pandhari - the energy with which Panditji has sung this song is simply awesome. This song and others like Teertha Vithala etc., made me a big fan of Panditji's music and I now started listening to his regular concerts and within no time I got sucked into the beauty of elaborate khayals, the intricate birkaas, the subtle taans and devotional bhajans. I now possess almost all of his albumns and mp3 of over 20 concerts.

I was also fortunate enough to attend a jugalbandhi concert of BalamuraliKrishna and Panditji - an out of the world experience. They sung Yaman-Kalyani and Malkauns-Hindola kritis and a few bhajans. Panditji's booming voice was a perfect complement to Balamurali's very subtle, smooth and silky voice. Panditji's energetic birkaas was matched with very intuitive and imaginative swara vistaaras of Balamurali. Crescendos were reached every now and then. There is no way words can describe this concert.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever. There'd be millions of rasikas like me who have been given a daily dosage of inspiration by Panditji. His voice is so soothing when you are tiered. He invokes bhakti when you listen to bhajans. We are lucky enough to have lived in an era where we got a chance to hear him live and more importantly we have access to his recordings. Several generations to come would be envy us for having lived when Panditji was around. May his soul rest in peace.

Thank you very much,