Biographical timeline of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi's life

Born in into a Brahmin family on 14th February 1922 in an idyllic village in a very small town of Karnataka named Gadag, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi left his home at the early age of 11 to own to learn singing through the master-disciple tradition or `Guru-shishya` tradition.

After spending three years in Gwalior, Lucknow and Rampur trying to find a good guru, Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan, who was the most prized musician of the Scindias` durbar of Gwalior, took Panditji under his wings and taught him the rudiments of Raag Maarwa and Raag Puriyaa.

Pandit Joshi met Sawai Gandharva in 1936 and thus began a lifelong association with the Kirana gharana. He stayed there for four years until 1940.

Having given his first public performance at the age of 19, Panditji cut his first devotional album three years later. His first public concert however came on the occasion of his guru Sawai Gandharva's 60th birthday in Pune in 1946.

For over four decades Pandit Bhimsen Joshi has led the renaissance of Indian classical music with the passion and power of a one-man chorus. Of a single-pointed thirst for music it is an epic saga of struggle. That is why Pandit Bhimsen Joshi has been a daredevil, a risk-taker for most of his life.

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was honoured with the Bharat Ratna in 2008. He also was awarded three Padma awards, the Karnataka Ratna and Maharashtra Bhushan.

Awards received:
Padma Shri (1972),
Sangeet Natak Akademi award (1976),
Padma Bhushan (1985) and
Padma Vibhushan (1999)