Suresh Heblikar on Pandit Bhimsen Joshi
In Suresh Heblikar's words:
Bhimsen Joshi was a doyen, a legend, a singer performer par excellence. It would be hard to imagine the like of Bhimsen Joshi to ever arrive again on the Hindustani musical horizon. His style, his stentorian voice, his gestures and his entire persona are hard to capture in just words. He stands beyond description, beyond words.
There was so many who tried to imitate the great artist but never succeeded. His style was so mesmerizing and captivating.
Bhimsen Joshi remains an inimitable musician sheerly because of the amazing combination of his unique rendering and his mastery over the nuances and complexities of the 'Kirana Gharana' style. He had the uncanny ability of transcending the confines of form and pattern, a distinct style of his own. That is exactly the reason he emerged as the most powerful and a formidable classical singer of his time. And his era spanned almost six decades which he strode as a colossus. The very name Bhimsen Joshi spelled wonder and magic among listeners, both in India and abroad.
I have attended several of his performances and every time I attended I felt I was seeing a new Bhimsen Joshi, so refreshing was his music. His baritone, his sur, his tan, his alap, and his highly nerve gripping crescendo that almost sent every listener into hysteria never failed to move me. Yesterday, when I was at Vivekananda school as chief guest to address the students on environment, the principal announced one minute silence to pay respect to the greatest Indian Classical singers and as the National Anthem sung by Bhimsen Joshi began to be played, the entire images of Bhimsen Joshi's various moods began to haunt me as tears streamed down my cheeks and blurred my vision.
