Pt. Bhatt unveils the Vishwa veena

His quest for an exciting vibrant tone has led to the creation of a new instrument -- Vishwa veena. PANDIT VISHWA MOHAN BHATT tells K. KANNAN the story of its birth....

Creator of the Mohan Veena and Grammy Award winner, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, has once again let his imagination soar high. The result is another masterpiece -- the Vishwa veena made out of a single piece of wood capable of creating a fountain of music.

``While creating the Mohan Veena, which is essentially a modification of the Western Hawaiian Guitar, I was in search of an exciting vibrant tone that could attract a young boy of three or even a 90-year old. For some years now, I have been wanting to create a continuous and sustained flow of music,'' the popular Indian artiste abroad says.

A dexterous blend of the traditional veena and harp, a western instrument, Vishwa Veena has 34 strings in all. With two groups of sympathetic strings, it creates a flood of notes which sweeps the listener off in a tremendous flow. ``It is an improvement over the Mohan Veena which is a combination of sitar, sarod, veena and gotu vadyam of the South,'' he says.

Breaking new ground in music has always been his forte and he lets the music of all countries flow into his creations. ``My idea of music is very vast. We should always be open to new ideas, new kind of trends. We should not lag behind in the name of maintaining traditions,'' he says.

Having played with all-time greats like Jerry Douglas, Simon Shaheen and Jei Bing Chen, this fusion maestro asserts that classical musicians must come out of their shell. ``They must have the confidence that their music will win any competition from anywhere,'' he says. ``Orthodox musicians imprison music in a cage; neither do they dare nor do they understand,'' he laments.

Fusion being the basis of life, Pt. Bhatt is not averse to performing with any musician anywhere in the world. ``Doing fusion is another dimension of a musician's talent and his virtuosity,'' he says.

Recently, he has also given background music for a full-length feature film ``Bawander'' produced by Jagmohan Mundra which has versatile actress, Nandita Das, in the lead role. ``I have also given music for three sequences in Aamir Khan's `Lagaan,' '' he informs, adding: ``A new audio cassette of mine entitled ``Maestro of Mohan Veena'' has also been brought out recently by Magnasound''.

As of now, it is his new creation, ``Vishwa Veena'' that has brought his musical journey to another crossroad. ``I will be giving my first performance on the Vishwa Veena on March 15 at the Kamani Auditorium. It will be in the form of a jugalbandi with my son, Salil. While Salil will play the Mohan Veena, I will play the Vishwa Veena,'' he says.

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