The greatest contribution of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, the unquestioned maestro of Khayal gayaki, was bringing classical music close to the common man, and immortalising the devotional singing like bhajans and ‘Sant Vani’ through his penetrating voice.
His rendition of ‘abhangas’ in both Marathi and Kannada lifted the listerns to a truly divine experience. Although an exponent of Hindustani classical music, he evolved an appraoch that sought to achieve a balance between traditional values and mass-culture to make him the most popular vocalist of his times.