Seven-city concert to pay tribute to Pt. Bhimsen Joshi

A concert of abhangs and devotional songs dedicated to Lord Vithal 'Bolava Vithal' will be organised to pay tribute to legendary vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi. Top artistes like Shankar Mahadevan, Suresh Wadkar and Rahul Deshpande will be seen singing for the concert. The concert, which will be a seven city tour, will pay tribute to the Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, one of the organisers Pancham Nishad informed.

Bhimsen was celebrated worldwide for his abhangs (devotional songs in praise of Lord Vitthal) through his thematic concert 'Santawani'. Pancham Nishad plans to take this concert across the border of Maharashtra to Dharwad, Bangalore and Chennai. The concert targets Lord Vitthal's devotess and music lovers in general.

The evening promises a glorious evening with classical and devotional tunes. The main objective of the organisers to initiate 'Bolava Vitthal' concert was to give this rare opportunity to music lovers and devotees to listen to such maestros singing in praise of Lord Vitthal. The tour begins on July 9 in Goa, followed by Mumbai, Pune, Nasik, Dharwad, Bangalore and Chennai.

In Mumbai, the concert will be held on July 11, 2011 at Shanmukhnanda Auditorium. Shankar Mahadevan said, " Bolava Vitthal gives me a chance to sing abhangs and get back to my classical roots. Its an honour to perform in memory of Pandit Bhimsenji."