The Sawardhiraj Collection (of which this is the fifth album) is a retrospective look across Bhimsen Joshi's  long and illustrious career. The two performances in the album have been taken from different occasions in 1986, with different accompanists. Raga Jogkauns and Bageshri Kanada are combinations of more than one pre-existing raga, however the way in which Bhimsen Joshi performs them is not always the most obvious or most common, but his treatments are very distinctive and carry the weight of his authoritative style. Both ragas are late night ragas.

Bhimsen Joshi (1922 - 2011) was one of the greatest Indian vocalists of the second half of the 20th century. He was known for the khyal form of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of devotional bhajans and abhangs. He received the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, in 2008.

Bhimsen Joshi learnt from Sawai Gandharva as a teenager and started performing in 1941. He was known for his powerful voice, amazing breath control, fine musical sensibility and unwavering grasp of the fundamentals, representing a subtle fusion of intelligence and passion that imparted life and excitement to his music. A classicist by training, and temperament, Bhimsen Joshi was renowned for having evolved an approach that sought to achieve a balance between traditional values and mass-culture tastes. His singing was based on the repertoire of the Kirana gharana and has been influenced by many musicians, including Kesarbai Kerkar, Begum Akhtar and Amir Khan. Joshi assimilated into his own singing various elements that he liked in different musical styles and Gharanas. He was a purist who has not dabbled in experimental forms of music, except for a series of Jugalbandi recordings with the Carnatic singer M. Balamuralikrishna.