With permission of the author of the blog "Musical Hues", here is a superb article on one of the greatest classical singers of India.
IN PURSUIT OF THE MUSICAL PHENOMENON, PANDIT BHIMSEN JOSHI
"If we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be
free to follow wherever that search may lead us"
Supreme Knowledge is knowing the supreme self. The quest for knowing the supreme self culminates in the recognition of the fact that "That I am" tat thvam asi, becoming one with the self and thus the knower becomes the known.
A boy of 11 had this courage to pursue what his being recognized to be real knowledge. For Pt Bhimsen Joshi, nAdha was the Brahman, the supreme self. His pursuit which then commenced ended on the day of Bahula Panchami when Pt Ji became Music itself, from being a musician.
Leaving behind the mortal coil Joshi ji got unmanifest as the all pervading nAdhabrahma.
Bhimsen Joshi - The Personality
Joshi Ji, the legend had his seed for life in Ron Village of Gadag District, Uttara Karnataka. His 'Swara Pradhan' music germinated with Bhajans that reached him from his surroundings. Joshi Ji's grandfather Bhimasenacharya was an exponent of Keertana form of music. Joshi Ji's inclination towards Music grew leaps and bounds after he listened to Ustad Abdul Karim Khan's Thumri in Jhinjhoti "Piya Bin Nahi Aavat Chain". This inclination made Joshi Ji a wanderer in pursuit of his music Guru. Joshi Ji traveled for three long years during which he visited Delhi, Kolkata, Bijapur, Pune, Lucknow, Gwalior, Rampur and Punjab. He had a short tutelage under Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan at Madhav School of Music in Gwalior.
Joshi Ji's unending quest for music tutelage made him approach Shri Rambhau Kundgolkar alias Sawai Gandharva, one of the chief disciples of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan. Sawai Gandharva was an eminent Khyal Vocalist and torch bearer of Kirana Gharana, unique school of music developed by Ustad Abdul Karim Khan. Sawai Gandharva agreed to be his Guru.
Since 1936, Joshi Ji had found his Guru and his meticulous training had begun after 18 months. The training adopted all the rules of the Guru-Shishya Parampara. Bhimsen Joshi was sparkling with great musical intricacies imbibed from his Guru. Joshi Ji continued training under Sawai Gandharva till 1940.
Joshi Ji impressed by the presentation of rAg natmalhAr by guru Mushtaq Hussain, followed him to Rampur. Joshi Ji stayed at Rampur for 6 months. Joshi Ji then moved to Lucknow, where he met Begum Akhtar. Begum was impressed by Joshi Ji's rendering of cheez in rAg Bhairav. Begum then led Joshi Ji to AIR Lucknow with a job offer as an artiste. Joshi Ji came across Ustad Bismillah Khan as his colleague at AIR Lucknow.
Bhimsen Joshi imbibed Kesarbai Kerkar's open-mouthed voice production and laya bound treatment of khyAl with tAn patterns from Ustad Amir Khan with his own style and creativity to enrich his presentations.
Joshi Ji's first break came from his presentation of rAg MiyAn kI malhAr at the 60th birthday of his Guru. Joshi Ji's presentation enthralled the audience and the excellence in Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was recognized.
Joshi Ji was a simple man. Some of his interests included driving car at greater speeds as his drut presentations. He also enjoyed swimming to take care of his breath control.
Pandit Joshi's approach to music was learning music for music's sake by listening to great masters and total devotion of life to the art. Joshi Ji laid emphasis on singing with faith in the notes and said that 'invoking a raag is like invoking God'. These were some other points that he constantly stressed on:
* An artiste should aim for the audience's hearts, their minds.
* He did not approve of overenthusiastic youth taking to music just to give programmes and earn a fan following.
* Aspiring musicians should spend at least 15 to 20 years mastering the art and should refrain from beginning their performing careers until they are at least 30 to 35 years old. Allow the artiste in them to mature,
Joshi ji - the Stellar Musician and his Music
As the dark clouds gather to shower manna on earth...
As the breeze wifts through every leaf in the tree....
As the bee picks up nectar from the flowers...
As Natural as Pure as Straight as Resonating his Music can be...
Only as our Joshi Ji unfurls his purest music...
Here is a childlike attempt to count the musical waves deluging out of ocean in our joshi ji.
Though not bestowed with a melodious and fine voice, Joshi ji had a deep, penetrating and resonating voice. He generally sang in D, still could comfortably traverse across atleast two and a half octaves. That he put his heart and soul while rendering a Khyal could be realized from his full throated singing, in fact straining his vocal cord without retorting to false voice singing.
Joshi ji had a very huge heart and was a very humble and modest person. Joshi ji never expressed any of the arrogance which his artistic genius would entitle him to. On the dias he would sit erect, his eyes looking up as if inviting and invoking the God of music and getting submerged in the divine inundation of his own music, performing the tapas.
Joshi ji never tried to be gimmicky but never refrained from being acrobatic and virtuositic. Dazzling tans, superfast thihais were regular parts of his performances but they were supremely spontaneous and impromptu and never a precalculated artithmetic. He astutely maintained a perfect balance between innovation and tradition. He never compromised on a purely classical rendition of a Khyal for the sake of mass appeal or to make his presentation sound unconventional. At the same time brought several innovations to vocal singing which was until then alien to his lineage of music, the kirana gharana.
Joshi ji brought an element of forcefulness and aggression into the otherwise serene kirana gharana. Bursting taans, andolans, highly speedy but closely packed and knit swaras were characteristic of Joshi ji's music. No matter how electrifying his presentation was, the elements of poignancy and devotion were never compromised. His was always an emotive rendition and always bhava laden.
A very important aspect of Joshi ji's style was his singing of s r g m p d n as ss rr gg mm and so on or ssss rrrr ggg mmm in the drut segments. Such a pattern is called Jhantai in carnatic music system.
The full article with audio excerpts of some brilliant renderings by Panditji can be found in this link:
In pursuit of the Musical Phenomenon - Pandit Bhimsen Joshi
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