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Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt on slide guitar (mohan veena)

Originally posted on sciy.org by Debashish Banerji on Wed 07 Dec 2005 02:01 PM PST  

In celebration of the Center's 52nd birthday, there was a concert of Indian classical music by Grammy award recipient Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. Pandit Bhatt played the slide guitar which he has adapted into an Indian classical instrument and given the name mohan veena. He was accompanied on tabla by Shri Subhen Chatterjee.

Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt has mesmerized the world with his pristine pure, delicate yet fiery music. As a disciple of Pt. Ravi Shankar, Vishwa Mohan belongs to that elite body of musicians which traces its origin to the Mogul emperor Akbar's court musician Tansen and his guru the Hindu Mystic Swami Haridas. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt has attracted international attention with his successful adaptation of the western Hawaiian nto an instrument which he calls the mohan veena— a highly modified concord archtop guitar with 19 strings which Bhatt plays lap-style utilizing sitar, sarod & veena techniques of Indian music . Many instruments, including violin and mandolin, have been incorporated in to the Indian music tradition but few have been physically modified so extensively as has the Mohan Veena. Outstanding features of Bhatt's baaj (style) are his natural ability to play the "Tantrakari Ang" and incorporate the "Gayaki Ang" on Mohan Veena. In 1994 Vishwa Mohan Bhatt was awarded a Grammy along with Ry Cooder for their album entitled A Meeting by the River which brought Bhatt to widespread international attention and acclaim. Vishwa Mohan has performed extensively in the USA, USSR, Canada, the Great Britain, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, Switzerland, Denmark, then scaling the Gulf of Dubai, Al-Sharjah, Bahrain, Muscat, Abu Dhabi and throughout India. Accompanying Bhatt on the tabla was Shri Subhen Chatterjee, one of the finest tabla artists of his generation who traces his style of playing to the Lucknow Gharana learned from his illustrious Guru tabla maestro Pandit Swapan Chowdhury. Chatterjee has accompanied numerous outstanding musicians including Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Smt. Girija Devi, Pt. Jasraj, Smt. Sobha Gurtu, Pt. V. G. Jog, Pt. Rajan-Sajan Misra, Ustad Rashid Khan, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Pt. Viswa Mohan Bhatt, Ustad Ashish Khan, Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar, Pt. Manilal Nag, Ustad Ali Ahmed Hussain Khan, Sri Ronu Mazumder and many others. He has also had the distinction of being one of the very few tabla players to participate regularly in Peter Gabriel's WOMAD Festival.

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