Bhimsen Joshi, My Father

Raghavendra Bhimsen Joshi

Translated from Marathi by Shirish Chindhade

Bhimsen Joshi, one of the foremost exponents of the Hindustani classical tradition, who died in 2011, mesmerised audiences with his renditions of bhajans and khayals. In this intensely emotional account, Raghavendra Bhimsen Joshi—the son of Bhimsen Joshi and his first wife, Sunanda—recreates his father’s life, piecing it together from anecdotes and revelations he has gathered from family members. He writes about, among other things, his father’s early morning riyaz, his drives across the country and his mastery over several languages.

Oxford University Press, 234 pages, Rs 550