Panmit Bhimsen Joshi

One of the foremost exponents of Hindustani classical music, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi requires no introduction of sorts. A classicist by training and profession, he was known the world over for his ‘Khayal’ form of singing. What made him distinctive from his contemporaries was his ability to balance between the traditional music and mass-culture taste. This probably best explains his success as a Hindustani vocalist in terms of largest commercially recorded repertoire. Blessed with fine musical sensibilities and brilliant hold of fundamentals, his powerful voice, amazing breath control, rhythmic stance, and intelligent fusion of passion and creativity has marvelled all who have heard him play. He was a purist by heart and did not experiment much with his music which was marked by spontaneity, accuracy and unbelievably fast paced taans. However, he enriched the ‘Kiraana Gharana’ by adapting characteristics from other gharanas and adding his own distinctive taste to it. A Bharat Ratna awardee, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was also conferred with numerous other prestigious and coveted l awards.