Artistes mourn Pt Bhimsen Joshi’s demise

Bharat Ratna recipient, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi passed away in the wee hours of Monday morning. The classical singer was 88 years old and sighed his last breath at a Pune hospital. In memoriam, several artistes recall the legendary singer.

Bharat Ratna recipient, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi passed away in the wee hours of Monday morning. The classical singer was 88 years old and sighed his last breath at a Pune hospital.

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A practitioner of the Kirana

gharana

, Pandit Joshi was known for his mellifluous

khayals

and his classical renditions of

abhangs

and

bhajans

. He was conferred the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian honour, in 2008.

B-town’s actors, musicians and directors alike mourn his sad demise. Singer Lata Mangeshkar, who has recorded with Pandit Joshi on more than one occasion, more recently for AR Rahman’s video of the National Anthem, recounts her meetings with the legend.

“He was not only a great singer, but also a great person. He considered me his daughter. I used to meet him often. I am very lucky to have recorded an album of

bhajans

with him. I was very nervous singing with him, but he made me feel comfortable. I won’t be able to forget him,” says Mangeshkar.

Indie artiste Ankur Tewari echoes. “Pt Joshi is one of the reasons I believed in magic. May he rest in peace,” Tewari offering his condolences.

Pandit Joshi was one of the first artistes to develop an improvised style of reciting classical ragas. He has also tried his hands at Bollywood, singing for movies like

Basant Bahar

(1956),

Birbal My Brother

(1973) and

Ankahee

(1985).

Actor Rahul Bose recalls, “My most memorable concert of Pt Joshi for was at the Key Hall museum. He started with

Raag Marwa

that evening and recounting it, I still get goosebumps,” he said.