It was one fine day in 1968 when a 15 year old Vishwa Mohan Bhatt who was than learning sitar, stumbled across a Spanish guitar brought by a German student at his fathers music school. He started experimenting with it, trying to modify its structure to suit Indian music. What resulted was an Indian version of Hawaiian slide guitar designed to play Indian classical, The Mohan Veena.
Mohan Veena is a Indian stringed instrument used in classical Indian music. It refers to two distinct classical instruments, one “ Sarodâ€ created by well-known Sarodhya Radhika Mohan Maitra and the second being a modified Hawaiian guitar created by Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. Many western musical instruments have been accepted in India.
The Mohan Veena is a highly modified concord archtop, which VM Bhatt plays lap style. It has 19 strings : three melody strings ,four drone strings coming out of the peg heads, and 12 sympathetic strong tuners mounted to a piece of wood added to the side of the neck. The melody strings are considered as the Treble side and the drone strings are considered to be the Bass side. The drone strings are lower in the height than the melody strings to allow for unrestricted playing of the melody strings. The sympathetic strings run underneath the melody and the drone strings. The instrument has a carved spruced top, mahogany back and sides, a mahogany neck and a flat, fretless, rosewood fingerboard.
Mohan Veena is a adaption of Western Slide Guitar and is called as Hindustani Slide Guitar. VM Bhatt drew a lot of flak when he forayed into fusion music with the Mohan Veena. The distinct sound of Mohan Veena can be discerned especially in the interludes of the song “Narumugaiyeâ€. There is a Mohan Veena solo version of Jana Gana Mana in A R Rahmans album of the same name.
Mwaka 1968 kijana mmoja wa miaka 15 aliyeitwa Vishwamohan Bhatt alipokuwa akijifunza kucheza gitaa, alikutana na gitaa ya Kihispania iliyoletwa na mwanafunzi mmoja wa Ujerumani katika shule ya muziki ya baba yake. Alianza kufanya majaribio nayo, akijaribu kurekebisha muundo wake ili upate kufanana na muziki wa India. Matokeo yakawa toleo la Kihindi la gitaa ya slide ya Hawaii iliyoundwa kucheza muziki wa Kihindi wa kale, The Mohan Veena. Mohan Veena ni chombo cha kamba cha India kinachotumiwa katika muziki wa kale wa India. "Kipande cha muziki cha ""Sarota"" kilitengenezwa na Radhika Mohan Maitre na ""Sarota"" kilitengenezwa na Vishwa Mohan Bhatt." Vifaa vingi vya muziki vya magharibi vimekubaliwa nchini India. Mohan Veena ni archtop ya makubaliano iliyobadilishwa sana, ambayo VM Bhatt hucheza mtindo wa lap. Ina kamba 19: kamba tatu za melody, kamba nne za drone zinazotoka kwenye vichwa vya pini, na tuners 12 zenye nguvu zilizounganishwa na kipande cha mbao kilichoongezwa upande wa shingo. Melody nyuzi ni kuchukuliwa kama upande Treble na drone nyuzi ni kuchukuliwa kuwa upande Bass. Nyota za drone ni za chini kwa urefu kuliko nyuzi za wimbo ili kuruhusu kucheza bila kizuizi cha nyuzi za wimbo. Nyota za huruma zinaendeshwa chini ya wimbo na nyuzi za drone. Chombo ina kuchongwa spruced juu, mahogany nyuma na pande, mahogany shingo na gorofa, fretless, rosewood fingerboard. Mohan Veena ni marekebisho ya Western Slide Guitar na inaitwa kama Hindustani Slide Guitar. V.M. Bhatt alivutia sana wakati alipochukua muziki wa fusion na Mohan Veena. Sauti tofauti ya Mohan Veena inaweza kutambuliwa hasa katika interludes ya wimbo <unk>Narumugaiye<unk>. Kuna toleo la solo la Mohan Veena la Jana Gana Mana katika albamu ya A R Rahman ya jina moja.