Music Maestro
Pt Bhimsen Joshi Ji  

Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi (Kannada: ಪಂಡಿತ ಭೀಮಸೇನ ಗುರುರಾಜ ಜೋಷಿ, Marathi: पंडित भीमसेन गुरुराज जोशी), (February 4, 1922 - January 24, 2011) was an Indian vocalist in the Hindustani classical tradition. A member of the Kirana Gharana (school), he is renowned for the khayal form of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music (bhajans and abhangs). He is the most recent recipient of the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, awarded in 2008

He was born into a Kannadiga family in the town of Ron which was then in Gadag District in northern Karnataka state of India.His father, Gururaj Joshi, was a school teacher. Bhimsen was the eldest in a family of 16 siblings. Some of the siblings still live in their ancestral home in Gadag.Bhimsen lost his mother when he was young, and his step mother raised him. His parents lived initially with his grandfather as tenants of a Kulkarni household, but then moved to Gadag District.

As a child, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi's craving for music was evident to his family as he managed to lay his hands on a 'tanpura' used by his 'Kirtankar' grandfather, which had been kept away from his gaze at home. Music had such a magnetic pull over him that a 'bhajan singing' procession or just 'azaan' from a nearby mosque was said to draw him out of house.

Today 24 January 2011 he died in Pune's Hospital due to health problems.He was 89 year old.

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