After the all-popular 'Mohan Veena' that won him a Grammy, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt has created another instrument---the 'Vishwa Veena' a hybrid of the Mohan Veena and the harp with which he hopes to push the frontiers of fusion music further…..
Back in 1994, he created music history by becoming the second Indian ever---after Pandit Ravi Shankar--- to win the coveted Grammy award for his album A Meeting By The River. The speciality of the album was that it's music was based on a fusion of two instruments---Vichitra Veena and the Hawaiian guitar and was called the Mohan Veena.
The Grammy award winner and designer of this quaint instrument, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt says he had made it his life's passion to create an instrument that would bring out the true meaning of his music. " I wanted to invent something which gave the sound and tune of the Western guitar and could be handled like an Indian Veena," says he adding, " My quest ended when I made the Mohan Veena which is popular both in India and the West and many musicians come to me to enquire and buy this instrument."
Now musicians will have another reason to come to Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. He has created yet another instrument which he has christened the Vishwa Veena---a cross between the western harp and the Mohan Veena. The new instrument has three bridges on which 34 strings have been mounted that account for its versatile range.
The Vishwa Veena is made of a single piece of oak wood. " I first carved it in the shape of a Veena and then hollowed it out to create a unique sound box. The new instrument has two sound holes through which music filters out. I think this is a very creative instrument," says Bhatt
Pt. bhatt also has his son Salil Mohan Bhatt of the same culture of Veenas.
In fact, creativity came early to Bhatt. His creativity began manifesting itself when he was just 14. After years of experimentation with the Hawaiian guitar and the Veena, he created the Mohan Veena that in later years would catapult this prodigiously talented musician from Jaipur to fame and fortune.
" Since childhood I had tried to modify the Veena as I was not satisfied with its sound. I felt it was incomplete. That's why first I combined it with the guitar and invented the Mohan Veena and now I have combined Mohan Veena with the harp to invent the Vishwa Veena."
Bhatt's musical creations on the Mohan Veena carried him far and won him laurels. Recipient of several national and international awards, he became a household name after winning the Grammy in 1994 for his album A Meeting by the River he made with Ry Cooder, an American guitarist.
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The Grammy award winner and designer of this quaint instrument, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt says he had made it his life's passion to create an instrument that would bring out the true meaning of his music. " I wanted to invent something which gave the sound and tune of the Western guitar and could be handled like an Indian Veena," says he adding, " My quest ended when I made the Mohan Veena which is popular both in India and the West and many musicians come to me to enquire and buy this instrument."
Pt. bhatt also has his son Salil Mohan Bhatt of the same culture of Veenas.