THE RECORD NEWS - The Digital South Asia Library - University of ...

More Gramophone Celebrities
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In this section we give short biography and available discography [mainly 78 rpm
records] of great gramophone artists.
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Mr. G. N. Joshi (1909 -1994)
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Mr. Govind Narayan Joshi was born in 1909 at Khamgaon, a small town in
Vidarbha, Maharashtra. He was known as G. N. Joshi in HMV and among his
friends. After the school education in Khamgaon, he shifted to Nagpur and Pune
for higher studies and obtained B.A. and L.L.B degrees. Although he practiced
for a short while as a lawyer, soon he gave it up for the more attracting career in
music. During his school and college days, he played roles in Marathi drama and
learnt music. He used to give concerts, broadcast from radio and set tunes to
Marathi poems written by young poets. One such favorite poem was ‘Sheel’
(whistle) written by Mr. N. G. Deshpande from Mehekar, a place near Khamgaon.
In one such concert, Mr. Ramakant Roopji, manager of the gramophone
Company, Mumbai listened to his music and invited him for cutting gramophone
discs. This was year 1930 when Mr. Joshi was just twenty years old. He was
asked to record only two songs. However, the recording session continued
overnight and he recorded eight songs. Soon, these records proved to be best
sellers and company offered him a job. He readily accepted it and contributed
substantially till his retirement. During 1930-50, he cut over 50 records [100
songs] on 78-rpm shellac discs. These included classical, light classical, Marathi
and even Gujrathi songs. His name – G.N.Joshi, B.A.L.L.B. is found on many
record labels. After about 1950, he took keen interest in obtaining recordings of
the leading vocalists and instrumentalists. He also continued it in the era of vinyl
LP/EP records. He had many interesting experiences during this long period. He
has narrated them in his Marathi book – ‘Swargangechya Teeri’. It was later
translated in English – ‘Down Melody Lane’. This book gives an account of the
efforts made in obtaining the records of great persons like Bade Gulam Ali Khan,
Faiyaaz Khan, K. L. Saigal, D. V. Paluskar, Begum Akhtar, Kesarbai Kerkar,
Ameer Khan, Bismillah Khan, Kumar Gandharva, Vasantrao Deshpande, Laxmi
Shankar, Siddheshwari Devi, Rasoolan Bai and many others. After the sad and
untimely death of Bapurao Paluskar, he released LP of his famous bhajans from
78 rpm era. On the other side of this LP record, he included raga Shree. Bapurao
had recorded this raga just before leaving for China. Mr. Joshi edited and
expanded available recording and made 18 minutes raga Shree. This record is
really a ‘Collector’s Item’.
During LP/EP era, he recorded longer pieces of Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali
Akbar Khan, V. G. Jog and Bismillah Khan, Pt. Ram Narayan, Pannalal Ghosh,
Shivkumar Sharma and Ameer Khan. His most favorite singer was Pt. Bhimsen
Joshi and he has recorded several LP and EP records during 1960-70. He also
reissued some selected 78’s of old masters on LP records. These include Bal
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