Confluence of two stars

Recalling how she brought the duo together after over six decades, Ghosh said, “When Ustad Bismillah Khan and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi were young, they performed together on several occasions but later on became very busy. Before 2005, the last time they performed together was in 1941 at Varanasi.”

One day, Khan expressed his desire to hear Panditji sing. “He asked me if I could arrange it. That is how I arranged their joint performance after these many years,” she said.

Ghosh got them together in her ‘Darbari Mehfil’ series and this was Panditji’s last big concert in Mumbai. It was also the last big concert of Bismillah Khan in Mumbai.

“Bismillah Khan sat in the wings and listened to his friend sing and said ‘Yaar tujhe 64 sal ke bad sun raha hoon (Friend, I am listening to you after 64 years)’. He requested Panditji to sing Raag Darbari and Panditji obliged. It was a memorable sight to see the two friends,” Ghosh said.