Series on stories & songs of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi goes on air

Pune: The All India Radio on July 18 launched a programme to broadcast a series on the city’s renowned vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Joshi to celebrate his birth centenary.
The programme will comprise a panel of artistes including tabla player Bharat Kamat, compere Sudhir Gadgil, and vocalists Anand Bhate, Upendra Bhat and Jayateerth Mevundi. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi’s son Shrinivas Joshi, who is also a Hindustani classical vocalist, will share memories of his father and some of his favourite compositions.
The series will be broadcast every Sunday at noon on All India Radio Pune’s various Bharati stations (101 FM) and at 11am on All India Radio’s Ahmednagar, Nashik, Kolhapur, Amravati, Sangli, Solapur and Dharwad stations (100.1 FM).
The series will be presented by Pradip Halasgikar. “This year we celebrate Bhimsen Joshi’s birth centenary. The programme is called ‘Athvani ani Gaani,’ which translates to memories and melodies. It will be interesting for listeners, who do not know much about Panditji’s work, to listen to the stories about him, the stories behind some of his famous compositions before being introduced, or reintroduced, to his songs,” he said.
“Anand Bhate talked about how Bhimsen Joshi used to say that many people recogized him as their guru (teacher), but only few names used to come to his mind when asked who his students were, which included Bhate. Sudhir Gadgil talks about his experiences over 50-60 programmes he did with the guru. Mukund Sangoram, who was Bhimsen Joshi’s neighbour when they were growing up, shared childhood memories of them together. Upendra Bhat spoke of the lessons in music and in life that he learnt from his guru,” he added.
Shrinivas Joshi said, “AIR has a treasure trove of my father’s recordings, which is a treat for audiences. They will be playing these recordings in the programme as well.”
While Bhimsen Joshi was instrumental in organising the annual Sawai Gandharva Music Festival in Pune since 1953 as homage to his guru, Pandit Sawai Gandharva, his son Shrinivas Joshi has kept the tradition on.
Even though the programme was cancelled last year because of the pandemic, Joshi had his fingers crossed in hope of when the programme could be organized in all its glory. “Last year, we decided to put the festival on hold. We are hoping to bring it back as soon as we can,” he said.