The Hindu : New Delhi News : A saga of melodious musical notes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 02, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

A saga of melodious musical notes

Staff Reporter

Biography of Vishwa Mohan Bhatt all set to hit the market

NEW DELHI: To him goes the credit of having created "Mohan Veena", a western Hawaiian guitar with assimilation of sitar, sarod and veena techniques. He is also the winner of a Grammy Award. And if you have been a fan of his music, here is a chance to read all about his life, struggles and victories.

World renowned for his unique style and closely followed for his work on his latest instrument, a Vishwa Veena with 35 strings, the biography of Vishwa Mohan Bhatt by Kanchan Mathur, released on Saturday and all set to hit the markets soon, traces the birth, youth and music of one of the gems of Indian classical music.

"Saga of a living phenomenon's journey on his mesmerising and melodious musical notes and his fascinating imagination, the book is a recollection of the glorious yet humble soul who helped realised the Great Indian Musical dream. It is aimed at being a comprehensive piece of writing for all who want to know about the King of Indian slide Guitar','' explained Kanchan Mathur, speaking about her book on Panditji.

And while the great master has plans to write an autobiography "when the hair on my head turns grey", for now he is busy working on his new project, a fusion of Rajasthani folk music with Western music.

"Though I was very busy while the book was being compiled and written, the writer has managed to capture the events of my life which are important to me and have helped me grow as a human being and artist,'' said Pandit Bhatt.

Claiming that the music industry was going through a golden era, Pandit Bhatt maintained that the industry was also churning out music that wasn't quality stuff.

"Though several avenues and companies have opened up the scope and reach of music, bad music created for instant money isn't the best that we can offer to our audience. The Indian Government has to work towards giving the common man a 24-hour classical music channel where he can switch to quality music any time of the day. It is not as difficult as we think it is, we have channels that discuss business and fashion throughout 365-days of the year, why isn't there even a thought about doing the same with Indian music.''

The book, meanwhile, also has interesting anecdotes about Pandit Bhatt's performances.

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