Bhimsen Joshi

Jan. 24: Hindustani classical music legend Pandit Bhimsen Joshi passed away at a Pune hospital this morning after prolonged illness, aged 88.

“He was the most popular and beloved vocalist and admired by all classical music lovers,” Pandit Ravi Shankar said in a message from California.

Ministers and ordinary music lovers gathered at the crematorium, where some of Joshi’s famous devotional abhangs played in the background and the final rites were performed amid a 21-gun salute and full state honours.

Joshi, a Bharat Ratna, was the doyen of the Kirana gharana and the last in the line of music legends from the Belgaum-Dharwad-Hubli region, which includes Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur, Pandit Kumar Gandharva, Basavraj Rajguru and Gangubai Hangal.

Born in a Kannada family on February 22, 1922, in Karnataka’s Gadag, Joshi later shifted to Pune but remained equally loved in both the states that often fight over territory and language. His daswanis are as popular in Kannada households as his santwanis are in Marathi homes.

One of his biggest contributions to music has been the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival, which he founded in 1952 in memory of his guru and personally managed till 2002.

Begum Parveen Sultana recalled how Joshi had visited Jalandhar in 1964 and persuaded her to perform at the festival. “I was just 14. He himself came on stage and tuned the tanpura for my performance. He wanted new talents to perform at Sawai.”

Joshi had been admitted to hospital on December 31 and later put on life support following kidney and respiratory failure, his family said.

Today, hundreds gathered at his Pune home, Kalashri, named after a raga he had created. Among them were sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Pune-based Dhrupad exponent Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar. President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sent condolence messages, describing Joshi’s death as a “national loss”.

Foreign minister and former Karnataka chief minister S.M. Krishna and Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan were at the crematorium. Despite his political troubles, Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa reached Kalashri to pay homage.

Messages arrived from vocalist Pandit Jasraj, Carnatic music legend M. Balamuralikrishna and santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma. Ravi Shankar rued missing the chance to meet Joshi during his latest visit to Pune. “He was the last of my contemporaries who left me behind.”