As part of the year-long Pt. Bhimsen Joshi Birth Centenary concerts ‘Bhimpalas’, organised to pay tribute to the legendary musician, a eleven-day music festival is being held in Dharwad from March 20.
The G.B. Joshi Memorial Trust, Dharwad, has organised the festival in association with Kshamata Samsthe, Hubballi. Concerts will be held at ‘Srijana’, Dr. Annajirao Sirur auditorium on the Karnatak College campus in Dharwad.
The trust had planned extensively to hold these concerts across Karnataka and so far various artistes from across the country have performed.
“Since it is the birth centenary year, we have planned concerts by a total of 100 musicians. So far Bhimpalas concerts have been held in Bengaluru, Dharwad, Kumta, Belagavi, Tumakuru, Bagalkot, Shivamogga, Kundapur, Vijayapura, Puttur, Udupi, Gadag, Chitradurga, and Davangere,” convener of the trust Samir Joshi said. “After the festival in Dharwad, there will be another one in Hubballi in April,” he said.
This apart, two concerts are scheduled to take place: at Kundagol, where Pt. Bhimsen Joshi learnt music under the tutelage of Pt. Sawai Gandharva, and another at Ron in Gadag district, the musician’s birthplace. After that there will be a formal concluding ceremony of the year-long concerts, Mr. Samir said.
Inaugural concert
The inaugural concert of the 11-day festival will be by flautist Rajendra Prasanna from New Delhi at 10.15 a.m. on March 20. It will be followed by a concert in the afternoon by vocalist Jayateertha Mevundi (Hubballi), a tabla solo by Ramdas Paslule (Pune), and evening vocal concerts by Nishad Baakre and Anuradha Kuber, both from Pune.
Vocalists Pt. Venkatesh Kumar, Kaivalyakumar Gurav Fayaz Khan, sarod exponents Troilee Dutta and Misilee Dutta (Kolkata), Sahana Banerjee; flautist Praveen Godkhindi, sitar exponents Kaynanjit Das (Kolkata); sarangi exponent Harsh Narayan (Powai), and sundari exponent Bhimanna Jadhav (Sholapur) are some of the other musicians to perform.
On both Sundays (March 20 and 27), the concerts will be held from morning to night and on other days the concerts will begin at 6 p.m. (5 p.m. on Saturday).
LIC of India, LIC Housing Finance Limited, Infosys Foundation, Ministry of Culture, Government of India, Sangeetacharya Pt. D.V. Kanebuva Pratishthana, Pune, ICCR, Bengaluru, Sangeeta Natak Akademi and Nanasaheb Alawani Charitable Trust, Pune, have joined hands with the trust in organising the event.
