Mohan veena

2021-10-20T19:11:34Z

2402:8100:24D4:CCD4:0:0:0:1: Added info

[[File:Mohanaveena.JPG|thumb|Vishwa Mohan Bhatt's instrument, a modified [[archtop]] [[Hawaiian guitar]] with eight total [[melody]] and [[Drone (music)|drone]] strings strung from the peghead, and twelve [[sympathetic string]]s strung to the tuners mounted on the side of the neck]]

A '''Mohan Veena''' is either of two distinct [[plucked string instrument]]s used in Indian classical music, especially [[Hindustani classical music]] which is associated with the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent. A modified [[sarod]], created by sarod player [[Radhika Mohan Maitra]] in the 1940s, was called the mohan veena.<ref name="Deb_BL">{{Cite news |url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/watch/He-who-came-first/article20849369.ece |title=He who came first |last=Deb |first=Arunabha |date=18 April 2014 |work=Business Line |access-date=30 July 2018}}</ref> The instrument was so named by musicologist Thakur Jaidev Singh, then the chief producer at All India Radio.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/music/and-the-melody-continues/article6963195.ece |title=And the melody continues |last=Banerjee |first=Meena |date=5 March 2015 |work=The Hindu |access-date=30 July 2018 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/music/remembering-radhu-babu/article17482099.ece |title=Remembering Radhu Babu |last=Khanna |first=Shailaja |date=17 March 2017 |work=The Hindu |access-date=30 July 2018 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref> Later [[Vishwa Mohan Bhatt]] modified a [[Hawaiian guitar]] to create an instrument also called the mohan veena, with Bhatt naming the instrument after himself. The latter instrument has become more closely associated with the name, especially following Bhatt winning the [[Grammy Award]] in 1994.<ref name="Deb_BL"/>

Bhatt's instrument is a modified [[archtop]] [[Hawaiian guitar]] with 20 strings - three to four [[melody]] and four to five [[Drone (music)|drone]] strings strung from the peghead, and twelve [[sympathetic string]]s strung to the tuners mounted on the side of the neck. A gourd (or the ''tumba'') is screwed into the back of the neck for improved sound sustain and resonance. It is held in the lap like a [[slide guitar]] and also played with a bar like a slide guitar. It is under tremendous tension; the total strings pull to be in excess of 500 pounds.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vishwamohanbhatt.com/veena.htm |title=Vishwa Mohan Bhatt |website=Vishwanmohanbhatt.com|accessdate=2016-03-03}}</ref> Performers include [[Vishwa Mohan Bhatt]], [[Salil Bhatt]] (who went on to invent the Satvik Veena, a derivative of his father's Mohan Veena), Manish Pingle (toured UK in 2015 with [[Michael Messer]]), and Canadian blues singer [[Harry Manx]], Poly Varghese and soumalya Mukhopadhyay, who has been called true representative of mohanbeena by pandit vishwa mohan bhatt himself for his melody and taans.{{cn|date=February 2021}} There are variants of Slide Guitars in India, such as the Chaturangui (created by Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya, 1978 known as the earliest innovation of Slide guitar in India), Hansa Veena (created by Pandit Barun Kumar Pal), and Shankar Veena (created by Kamala Shankar).

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Also See==
* Pandit [[Vishwa Mohan Bhatt]]
* [[Slide Guitar]]

==External links==
*[http://theaalaap.blogspot.com/2013/03/rare-strains.html Rare Strains]
*[http://www.musicaloud.com/2009/04/the-mohan-veena/ Writeup about the modified guitar on Music Aloud]

{{Indian musical instruments}}

[[Category:Guitars]]
[[Category:Hindustani musical instruments]]
[[Category:Indian musical instruments]]
[[Category:String instruments with sympathetic strings]]

{{guitar-stub}}

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Mohan veena