Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt

Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt

Vishwa Mohan Bhatt also known as V. M. Bhatt (born July 12, 1952) is an Indian slide guitar player. Bhatt is the creator of the Mohan Veena. He performs Hindustani classical music and won a Grammy Award in 1994.

It is for his Grammy winning album A Meeting by the River with Ry Cooder and other fusion and pan-cultural collaborations with Western artists like Taj Mahal, Béla Fleck and Jerry Douglas, that Bhatt is best known, although exposure such as an appearance on the 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival, which was organized by Eric Clapton, does allow for this side of his playing to reach a larger audience.

He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1998 and the Padma Shri in 2002.

Folk musician Harry Manx, who studied with 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.

Personal life

Vishwa Mohan is married to Padma and lives in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, with his two sons and his wife. His elder son Salil Bhatt is a renowned Mohan veena player (and also a player of the Satvik veena), while his younger son Saurabh Bhatt is a well known composer.

His nephew, Krishna Bhatt, plays the sitar and tabla.


Select discography

* 1992 - Guitar A La Hindustan, Magnasound (India)
* 1992 - Saradamani, Water Lily Acoustics
* 1993 - Gathering Rain Clouds, Water Lily Acoustics
* 1993 - A Meeting by the River (with Ry Cooder), Water Lily Acoustics
* 1995 - Bourbon & Rosewater (with Jerry Douglas & Edgar Meyer), Water Lily Acoustics
* 1995 - Mumtaz Mahal (with Taj Mahal & N. Ravikiran), Water Lily Acoustics
* 1996 - Saltanah (with Simon Shaheen), Water Lily Acoustics
* 1996 - Tabula Rasā (with Béla Fleck & Jie-Bing Chen), Water Lily Acoustics