Bhimsen Joshi

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is generally acknowledged to be one of the foremost contemporary vocalists of Hindustani music. Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi was born on February 14 1922, in the village of Gadag, in the Dharwad district of Karnataka i

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is generally acknowledged to be one of the foremost contemporary vocalists of Hindustani music. Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi was born on February 14 1922, in the village of Gadag, in the Dharwad district of Karnataka in South India. Born to a conservative school-master, he was drawn to music from a young age, but his father insisted that he get a sound education in a respectable profession like medicine or engineering.

In 1933 when he was 11 years old, in order to further his musical education, he decided to run away; having heard that Gwalior, Lucknow and Rampur in North India were the best places to learn classical music, his first destination was Gwalior. After he had spent a few years in Gwalior, Lucknow, and Rampur, his father relented and had him brought back, to begin the major part of his musical education in the nearby town of Kundgol, under Rambhau Kundgolkar, better known as Sawai Gandharva.