MUMBAI: Valay Foundation organized a tribute program to celebrate Pt. Bhimsen Joshi’s receiving the Bharat Ratna award at Shanmukhananda Auditorium, Mumbai on 11 April, 2009. The concert aptly titled ‘celebrations’ was attended by many renowned
artistes from across India.
Valay Doundation was formed with an intention to preserve and promote Indian music with organized and professional
methodology. Presently in India, the Indian music tradition is not being nurtured the way traditional music is nurtured in
other countries. Therefore, there is an urgent need for an Institution to synchronize the whole system with regard to Indian Music.
On organizing ‘Celebrations’, Ratish Tagde, Violinist and founder of Valay Foundation says, I have grown listening to Pt. Bhimsenji and Valay Foundation wanted to pay tribute to Pt. Bhimsenji for his passion and contribution to Hindustani Music We founded Valay to promote Indian Classical music and we plan to take it internationally. The DVD which is released byValay, talks about Panditji’s musical journey and has videos of select ragas. I am sure the audience will love it….
This DVD/VCD contains Yaman Kalyan, Kedar, Darbari Kanada, Todi, Vrindavan Sarang, Marwa, Poorvi, Bhairavi and has
collections of Panditji singing in a homely environment giving his emotional touch to the entire concept. This DVD was
offered at a discounted price on the day of the concert to the audience.
On inaugurating the function, Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia said, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi is a legend and had a vibrant journey so far.
We all were overwhelmed when he was awarded the Bharat Ratna. India knows his devotion for Hindustani Classical music.
Panditji has always given his best to every swar that he sang and inspired many youngsters. Today, Indian Classical music is
one of the best forms of music in the world and the credit goes to these senior artists. Not only has he committed himself to the music field, but also made an incredible contribution in bringing a smile on the faces of millions of people. The honor
for the 86-year-old vocalist, who belongs to ‘Kirana’ Gharana, caps a distinguished career spanning more than seven decades
since he first performed at the age of 19. A recipient of several awards including the Padma Vibhushan, the Padma Bhushan and
Padma Shree, Joshi has added his own distinctive style excelling in gamakar, meend and tanakriya and adapting characteristics
from other gharanas to create a unique vocal idiom….
For this unique gathering, disciple of Pt.Bhimsen Joshi, Pt. Srikant Deshpande opened the evening session by singing evening
ragas from the Kirana gharana. This was followed by Violinist Ratish Tagde’s instrumental interpretation of Paditji’s famous
bhajan’s Indrayani Kathi and Maze Maher Pandhari. Musicians like Pt. Rajan Sajan Mishra, Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, and Pt.
Sanjeev Abhyankar took the audience to a new height of sublimity as the concert progressed. The audience had a great time
listening to the jugalbandi by Pt.Vijay Ghate on tabla and Pt. Bhavani Shankar on Pakwaj (rhythm). The grand finale saw
performance by the higly revered flautist Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia. What a way to celebrate!