Heartstrings

Creator and exponent of the Mohan Veena,Padmashree Vishwa Mohan Bhatt keeps no secrets about what led him to invent. “I was about 14 years old when a German girl came to my father (Manmohan Bhatt) to learn to play Hindustani classical music on her guitar. I was attracted to both—the girl and the guitar—so,while I resolved to Indianise the girl,I made similar designs on the guitar and the result was the Mohan Veena,which I have been improvising constantly since I made it in 1967,” said Bhatt at the Indian Institute of Management,Lucknow,where he arrived on Friday to perform on the opening day of Varchasva-2011,the annual cultural programme.

“There must be no confusion pertaining to fusion,” he said in a jocundly with reference to his stint with the west. He has won a Grammy for his composition ‘Meeting by the River’ and has composed the background score for Hollywood films like ‘Dead Man Walking’ and ‘Meet the Fockers’. “In no way can fusion be seen as betraying the classical form of any art. It is just a way of presenting pure art with a dimension that makes it easy to appreciate in a new scenario. It is certainly no disservice to the classical form,on the contrary,it is the right way to promote culture,” says Bhatt,adding that he is the most sought after by Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Among Youth (SPIC-MACAY). “Students have an avid interest in classical music and ask so many questions about raag and rhythm.” He prefers to plays on his veena raags like Yaman,Puriya Dhanashree and Khamaj as “a raag like Darbaari Kangda takes time to build up.” He began his performance on Friday with Raag Mayur Vihaag.

He takes the onslaught of music piracy in his stride saying it cannot affect classical music for which there is a slow but steady demand. He continues to cut albums like ‘Groove Caravan’,collaborating with world artistes and performs in different countries. “On my flight from New York,the aircraft fuel began to leak and while everyone was sending out a prayer,I was wondering whether all my insurance premiums had been paid or not,” he joked.

Recently,he has been jet-hopping collecting awards for a film starring Shilpa Shetty called ‘The Desire’. “I love Hindi films,but composing for them is not my cup of tea,” he said. Varchasva is on for the next three days. “The highlights include hand shadowgraphy by Amar and Sabyasachi Sen of India’s Got Talent fame and a concert by Surya Jagan who sang ‘Give me some sunshine’ in 3 Idiots,” informs Nikhil Goyal,handling the programme arrangements.