Late Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi was an Indian vocalist from Karnataka in the Hindustani classical tradition. He is known for the khayal form of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music.
Khamaj is a specific raga within the Khamaj thaat. This raga has been explored more in the lighter forms of Hindustani Classical Music such as Thumri. Thumri is a common genre of semi-classical Indian music. The term 'thumri' is derived from the Hindi verb thumakna which means “to walk with dancing steps so as to make the ankle-bells tinkle.” The form is, thus, connected with dance, dramatic gestures, mild eroticism, evocative love poetry and folk songs of Uttar Pradesh, though there are regional variations.
Bhimsen Joshi was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship in 1998, the highest honour conferred by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama. Subsequently, he received the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, in 2009. He made a career in Hindustani classical music, devotional music, patriotic music and playback singing. Bhimsen Joshi was known for his powerful voice, amazing breath control, fine musical sensibility and unwavering grasp of the fundamentals. He died in 2011, aged 88, in Pune, Maharashtra. Joshi first performed live in 1941 at the age 19. His debut album, containing a few devotional songs in Marathi and Hindi, was released in 1942.
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