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Vishwa Mohan Bhatt was playing world fusion music even before it had a name. To play his unique eastern-western style, the Indian musician invented an instrument – the Mohan Veena. It’s a guitar modified to play like a sitar, sarod, veena, and guitar, all at once. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt recently toured the US and Lonny Shavelson caught up with him in Hayward, California.
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MARCO WERMAN: Vishwa Mohan Bhatt was playing world fusion music even before it had a name. He even invented an instrument to play his mix of Western and Eastern music. He calls it the Mohan Veena. It’s a guitar modified to play like a sitar, sarod, veena and guitar all at once. Vishua Mohan Bat recently toured the US and Lonny Shavelson caught up with him in Hayward, California.
LONNY SHAVELSON: Picture in your mind’s eye and ear a guitar. But not a plain acoustic guitar with a round hole under the strings. This guitar has F shaped holes on either side of the strings like a violin. Then double the width of the guitar’s neck to accommodate 20 strings on two levels. On the back of the neck attach a hollowed out gourd near the tuning pegs like a sitar. What you have is a Mohan Veena. An Indianization of a Western slide guitar.
VISHWA MOHAN BHATT: That is the beauty of this instrument that you can play 24 notes in just one stroke. And then with two fingers by the right hand combinations of unlimited patterns.
LONNY: Vishwa Mohan Bhatt sits cross-legged on the carpeted floor, his Mohan Veena on his lap. With his left hand he slides a thin metal bar along the strings, dobro style, plucking and strumming with his right. He designed his sitting position as carefully as the Mohan Veena. The gourd rests on the ground so he can balance the instrument on his lap, and his hands only touch the strings.
VISHWA: For the full resonance and full volume of the instrument that comes out.
LONNY: But Vishwa Mohan Bhatt’s goal in creating the Mohan Veena was about more than devising some new mixture of Eastern and Western sound. For him music is a way to God.
VISHWA: The music is very good for clarifying your heart, body and soul. It gives you a kind of peace in your mind and love in your heart; the whole thing is like you are praying to God.
LONNY: And he sees World Fusion music in particular as a unifying force.
VISHWA: Because sacred music is not the only common thing in this world otherwise there are so many different religions, language, culture but when it comes to music, sacred notes are universes. Right? I think we see sarod music and also can unite the whole universe.
LONNY: For The World, I’m Lonny Shavelson, Haywood, California.
MARCO: To see Vishwa Mohan Bhatt playing the Mohan Veena with Lonny Shavelson’s video up at our web site, that is TheWorld.org. From the Nan and Bill Harris studios at WGBH I’m Marco Werman. We’ll be back tomorrow.
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