NE ENTERTAINMENT BUREAU
The prestigious Akashvani Music Festival has been renamed after Bharat Ratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar announced Saturday.
He made this announcement at a Pandit Bhimsen Joshi Centenary Commemorative function organised in Pune on Saturday, a statement from the Ministry of Culture said.
Aakashvani Sangeet Sammelan will be called Bharat Ratna Pandit Bhimsen Joshi Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan.
Union Minister @PrakashJavdekar made this announcement at a Pandit #bhimsenjoshi Centenary Commemorative function organized in Pune today.
Details: https://t.co/6RV20g9WHN pic.twitter.com/Tr7zdVl2Sl
— Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (@MIB_India) February 6, 2021
The All India Radio, besides its regular music broadcasts, has endeared itself to its classical music listeners by organising the Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan in which prominent artistes from across the country perform, it said.
Speaking on the occasion, Javadekar said, “Doordarshan and All India Radio have opened the doors of the huge musical treasure of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi to the general public. These recordings are now available on YouTube and the Ministry of I&B is making efforts to reach them to a larger audience across the country. “Music has many forms and it has the power to motivate us. Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal could function for 67 years without break because of the blessings of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. Pandit ji was dear to one and all. The way he performed for shows in foreign countries similarly he performed for people of all the strata of life,” Javadekar said on this occasion.
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi was conferred the Bharat Ratna award in 2009.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who was also present at the event organized by the Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal, said Joshi was a bridge betwen Marathi and Kannada cultures.
The late doyen of Indian classical music was born at Gadag in Karnataka on February 4, 1922.
“Bhimsen Joshi came to Maharashtra from Karnataka. Generally, there are lots of cultural issues between Marathi and Kannada peoples,” Pawar said.
“But Bhimsen Joshi through his music tried to unify the two cultures. He served society through his music,” Pawar said.
Pawar also reminisced that he had attended Joshi’s concert at late Congress leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Yashwantrao Chavan’s house.
