Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
Encyclopedia
Vishwa Mohan Bhatt also known as V. M. Bhatt (born July 12, 1950) is an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n slide guitar
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...

 player. Bhatt is the creator of the Mohan Veena
Mohan veena
The Mohan veena is a stringed musical instrument used in Indian classical music. It derives its name from its inventor Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt...

. He performs Hindustani classical music
Hindustani classical music
Hindustani classical music is the Hindustani or North Indian style of Indian classical music found throughout the northern Indian subcontinent. The style is sometimes called North Indian Classical Music or Shāstriya Sangeet...

 and won a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 in 1994.

It is for his Grammy winning album A Meeting by the River
A Meeting by the River
A Meeting by the River is an album by Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, released in April 1993 through the record label Water Lily Acoustics. Recorded in September 1992, the improvised collaborative album features Cooder on slide guitar and Bhatt on the Mohan veena, a stringed instrument created by...

with Ry Cooder
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...

 and other fusion and pan-cultural collaborations with Western artists like Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal (musician)
Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...

, Béla Fleck
Béla Fleck
Béla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American banjo player. Widely acknowledged as one of the world's most innovative and technically proficient banjo players, he is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.-Early life and career details:Fleck was born in...

 and Jerry Douglas
Jerry Douglas (musician)
Jerry Douglas is an American record producer and resonator guitar player. Called "Dobro's matchless contemporary master," by The New York Times, and lauded as "my favorite musician" by John Fogerty, Douglas is one of the world’s most renowned Dobro players.-Career:In addition to his twelve solo...

, that Bhatt is best known, although exposure such as an appearance on the 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival
Crossroads Guitar Festival
The Crossroads Guitar Festival is a music festival and benefit concert first held in 2004 and again in 2007 and 2010. The festivals benefit the Crossroads Centre founded by Eric Clapton, a drug treatment center located in Antigua. The concerts are also intended to be a showcase for a variety of...

, which was organized by Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...

, does allow for this side of his playing to reach a larger audience.

He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists. The award consists since 2003 of Rs. 50,000, a citation, an angavastram , and a tamrapatra...

 in 1998 and the Padma Shri
Padma Shri
Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...

 in 2002.

Folk musician Harry Manx
Harry Manx
Harry Manx is a musician who blends blues, folk music, and Hindustani classical music. He was born in the Isle of Man where he spent his childhood and now lives on Saltspring Island, British Columbia, Canada....

, who studied with Salil Bhatt and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt for five years, plays a Mohan Veena. Counting Crows' Bassist Matt Malley also plays a Mohan Veena and is a student and friend of Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.Australian Musician Lawrie Minson also learnt Mohan Veena from Salil and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.

Personal life

Vishwa Mohan lives in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, with his two sons and his wife. His elder son Salil Bhatt is a renowned Mohan veena
Mohan veena
The Mohan veena is a stringed musical instrument used in Indian classical music. It derives its name from its inventor Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt...

 player (and also a player of the Satvik veena), his album Slide to Freedom Part II was nominated for the Canadian JUNO AWARD and also featured in pre-grammy nominations list , while his younger son Saurabh Bhatt is a well known composer.Vishwa Mohan Bhatt's grandson Satvik Bhatt is also a musician and a Limca Book Of World Record holder for being world's youngest Mohan Veena Player at the age of 3 and a half years and also for identifying 45 ragas at the age of 3 and a half years. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt's parents late Manmohan Bhatt and late Chandrakala Bhatt were also teaching and performing musicians who imparted knowledge of music to V.M Bhatt.
His nephew, Krishna Bhatt
Krishna Bhatt
Krishna Mohan Bhatt is a sitar player, teacher and scholar from Jaipur, India.He comes from a family of musicians in Jaipur. His father, the late Shashi Mohan Bhatt, a sitarist of great repute and a professor at the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur trained many musicians in the family including...

, plays the sitar and tabla.

Select discography

  • 1992 - Guitar A La Hindustan, Magnasound (India)
  • 1992 - Saradamani, Water Lily Acoustics
    Water Lily Acoustics
    Water Lily Acoustics is an American record label based in Santa Barbara, California. It primarily releases recordings of Indian classical music and cross-cultural collaborations between musicians from around the world...

  • 1993 - Gathering Rain Clouds, Water Lily Acoustics
    Water Lily Acoustics
    Water Lily Acoustics is an American record label based in Santa Barbara, California. It primarily releases recordings of Indian classical music and cross-cultural collaborations between musicians from around the world...

  • 1993 - A Meeting by the River
    A Meeting by the River
    A Meeting by the River is an album by Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, released in April 1993 through the record label Water Lily Acoustics. Recorded in September 1992, the improvised collaborative album features Cooder on slide guitar and Bhatt on the Mohan veena, a stringed instrument created by...

    (with Ry Cooder
    Ry Cooder
    Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...

    ), Water Lily Acoustics
    Water Lily Acoustics
    Water Lily Acoustics is an American record label based in Santa Barbara, California. It primarily releases recordings of Indian classical music and cross-cultural collaborations between musicians from around the world...

  • 1995 - Bourbon & Rosewater (with Jerry Douglas
    Jerry Douglas
    Jerry Douglas may refer to:*Jerry Douglas , actor, who was on The Young and the Restless for 25 years*Jerry Douglas, country/bluegrass musician*Jerry Douglas , director and writer of adult films such as, Score...

     & Edgar Meyer
    Edgar Meyer
    Edgar Meyer is a prominent contemporary bassist and composer. His styles include classical, bluegrass, newgrass, and jazz. Meyer has worked as a session musician in Nashville, part of various chamber groups, a composer, and an arranger...

    ), Water Lily Acoustics
    Water Lily Acoustics
    Water Lily Acoustics is an American record label based in Santa Barbara, California. It primarily releases recordings of Indian classical music and cross-cultural collaborations between musicians from around the world...

  • 1995 - Mumtaz Mahal
    Mumtaz Mahal (Taj Mahal Album)
    Mumtaz Mahal is an album by American blues artist Taj Mahal, N. Ravikiran, and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.-Track listing:# "Coming of the Mandinka"# "Come On in My Kitchen"# "Rolling on the Sea"# "Mary Don't You Weep"# "Stand by Me"# "Johnny Too Bad"...

    (with Taj Mahal
    Taj Mahal (musician)
    Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...

     & N. Ravikiran), Water Lily Acoustics
    Water Lily Acoustics
    Water Lily Acoustics is an American record label based in Santa Barbara, California. It primarily releases recordings of Indian classical music and cross-cultural collaborations between musicians from around the world...

  • 1996 - Saltanah (with Simon Shaheen
    Simon Shaheen
    Simon Shaheen is a Palestinian-American oud and violin virtuoso and composer....

    ), Water Lily Acoustics
    Water Lily Acoustics
    Water Lily Acoustics is an American record label based in Santa Barbara, California. It primarily releases recordings of Indian classical music and cross-cultural collaborations between musicians from around the world...

  • 1996 - Tabula Rasā
    Tabula Rasa (album)
    Tabula Rasa is the sixth full length studio album from the German industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten and was released in 1993.Anita Lane joins Blixa Bargeld on vocals for the song "Blume."- Track listing :...

    (with Béla Fleck
    Béla Fleck
    Béla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American banjo player. Widely acknowledged as one of the world's most innovative and technically proficient banjo players, he is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.-Early life and career details:Fleck was born in...

     & Jie-Bing Chen), Water Lily Acoustics
    Water Lily Acoustics
    Water Lily Acoustics is an American record label based in Santa Barbara, California. It primarily releases recordings of Indian classical music and cross-cultural collaborations between musicians from around the world...

  • 1996 - Sounds of Strings, Music today, India
  • 2008 - Mohan's Veena, Times Music, India
  • 2010 - Desert Slide, Times Music, India
  • 2010 - Mohan's Veena II, Times Music, India
  • 2011 - Groove Caravan, Deeksha Records, Canada

External links

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