Vishwa Mohan Bhatt

Among India's most inventive musical voices is Vishwa Mohan "V.M." Bhatt, the creator of the Mohan Veena—a nineteen-string modified archtop guitar equipped with three melody strings, four drone strings, and twelve sympathetic strings. By fusing Hawaiian guitar traditions from the West with sitar, sarod, and veena techniques, he has forged a singular sound. Bhatt became the first Indian musician to receive the "Musical Scientist award" in Banglore, India, and "Acoustic Guitar" magazine hailed him as "one of the greatest and mosty expressive slide players in the world". The "Edmonton Journal" called him "an inspiration even to Western guitarists". A longtime disciple of Ravi Shankar, he descends from the rarefied lineage that reaches back to Mughal emperor Akbar's court musician Tansen and Tansen's Hindu guru, Swarmi Haridas. In addition to issuing six solo albums, Bhatt has recorded alongside Ry Cooder, Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Taj Mahal, and Arabian oudh player Simon Shaheen. He made history as the first Indian to collaborate with a Chinese musician by touring with Erhu player Jei Bing Chen. The 1994 Grammy went to his Ry Cooder partnership, "A Meeting By The River". Another joint effort, "Tabula Rosa" with Bela Fleck and Jei Bing Chen, was captured inside a Santa Barbara, California church in October 1994 and earned a Grammy nomination. Tracks drawn from both "A Meeting By The River" and "Mumtaz Mahal", the latter recorded with Taj Mahal, surfaced on the soundtracks of "Two Days In The Valley" and the Oscar-winning "Dead Man Walking". A gifted composer, Bhatt wrote "Raga Ganga", which was performed during the nationwide observances of India's fiftieth year of independence.