When Bhimsen, Bismillah Khan performed jointly after 64 yrs

Mumbai, Jan 24 (PTI) It was after a gap of 64 years thatgood friends Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Ustad Bismillah Khancame together for a performance in 2005 here, at the behest ofthe shehnai maestro''s adopted daughter Dr Soma Ghosh.

Recalling how she brought the great friends togetherafter over six decades, Ghosh told PTI, "When Ustad BismillahKhan and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi were young, they performedtogether on several occasions but later on became very busy.

Before 2005, the last time they performed together was in1941 at Varanasi."

One day Khan expressed his desire to hear Panditji sing.

"He asked me if I could arrange it. That is how I arrangedtheir joint performance after these many years," she said.

Ghosh got them together in her ''Darbari Mehfil'' seriesand this was Panditji''s last big concert in Mumbai.

"Bismillah Khan sat in the wings and listened to hisfriend sing and said ''Yaar tujhe 64 sal ke bad sun raha hoon(Buddy, I am listening to you after 64 years). He requestedPanditji to sing Raag Darbari and Panditji obliged. It was amemorable sight to see the two friends," Ghosh said.

The recording of this concert was then given as a gift toN.A. Classical music company, for bringing it to the musiclovers of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, she said.

"This concert was also the last big concert of BismillahKhan in Mumbai," Ghosh said.