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Ira
Landgarten...Ira
Landgarten
Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt was born in 1952, of a musician
family of Jaipur in Rajasthan. He received his initial training
from his older brother Shashi Mohan, and is now a disciple of
Ravi Shankar. He has modified his guitar by adding several chikari
(drone strings tuned to the tonic), and eight sympathetic strings
tuned to the scale of the raga being played, which ring out in
the background when their note is struck on the main strings.
This hybrid instrument, which Vishwa calls the Mohan Veena, is
played like a Hawaiian slide guitar, and is ideally suited for
the sustained, sliding notes of vocal style Indian classical music.
Sukhvindar Singh, from Ludhiana in the Punjab, is one of
today's leading young tabla players. Learning first to play the
pakhawaj (the large double headed drum used to accompany Dhrupad
vocal music) under Nihal Singh, he received a thorough training
in the Banares tradition from his guru Kishan Maharaj.
Rag Bihag is an important evening raga. The rasa (mood)
is romantic combined with pathos, as in longing for one's lover.
Basically following a major scale, it omits the second, third
and sixth while ascending, and goes through both a natural and
augmented fourth: S m G M P N S, S N D P M G m G R S (C F E F#
G B C, C B A G F# E F E D C). There is an andolan (slow vibrato
between microtones) on the sharp fourth, and the second, used
only in descent to the tonic, is soft. The heart of the rag is
the phrase P M G m G (G F# E F E). Vadi and samvadi (most important)
notes are the third and seventh.
Rag Desh is a rainy season rag, and played in the evening
at other times. Mood is pathos and joy. Its ascending/descending
stucture goes: N S R m P N S, R S n D P D m G R G N S. (B C D
F G B C, D C Bb A G A F E D E B C). Vadi and samvadi are the second
and fifth.
About Raga Records: After legendary sitarist Nikhil Banerjee
died in 1986, we were concerned that his recordings were virtually
unobtainable here in the United States, and that such recordings
as existed were mainly from the studio, giving an inadequate picture
of the breadth of his live concert performances. Knowing of the
existence of some archival live concert master tapes, we set about
to rectify the situation, by making available both the Banerjee
legacy, and live recordings of fine artists like Vishwa Mohan
Bhatt who deserve recognition in the West.
Credits: Special thanks to Dr Balwant Dixit, who arranged
Vishwa's tour, and provided Raga Records with the master tape.
Recorded in Frick Fine Arts Auditorium, University of Pittsburgh
on April 14, 1989 by RST Recording, Pittsburgh. Engineer: Raymond
Chick. Neumann KM84 microphones. The original DAT recording was
mixed direct to hard disc and remained in the digital domain thereafter.
No equalization was needed. Audiofile Engineer: Andy Green. Digital
studio facilities provided by National Video Industries (NVI),
New York. Photos by Associate Producer Ira Landgarten. Produced
by John Wilton.