The best-known guitarist to come out of India doesn’t even play guitar in the traditional sense. Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt plays the Mohan Veena, a 19-stringed Indian classical counterpart to the Western slide guitar that took him across the globe. He won a Grammy in 1994 for A Meeting by the River, his world music collaboration with American slide guitarist Ry Cooder. 1995’s Mumtaz Mahal saw him jamming with blues legend Taj Mahal. Then, Eric Clapton invited him to play at his Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2004.

Sitting backstage at the Handshake Concert – held to celebrate World Music Day - at Mumbai, in June, this legendary musician who had just returned from another US tour, spoke to Rolling Stone about his newest alliances. Perhaps, the biggest of these was the jam with guitarist Derek Trucks at Wanee Festival in Jacksonville, Florida. While this was the first time that he was meeting Trucks, a self-professed follower of Indian classical music, Bhatt was familiar with the name. “I have read his reviews about my music. So I was very happy to see someone from that country and a different stream of music appreciating our music so much.” Once the meeting was over, Derek Trucks invited him to jam on stage. “We didn’t plan anything, we didn’t rehearse. I just sat down and started playing, just like that,” says Bhatt.  

Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, who has, in the past, worked with musicians like banjo player Bela Fleck, oud player Simon Shaheen and dobro guitarist Jerry Douglas has a couple of other interesting releases coming up soon. One is with bassist Matt Malley, who founded and played with Counting Crows for thirteen years. “Malley became my disciple and has been learning the Mohan Veena for the last ten years,” says Bhatt. The two have been working on an album due to be released by Harmonia Mundi. “The album will be called Romance Revisited, because all my compositions [on it] are connected with love and romance,” continues the soft-spoken guitarist. The other work-in-progress is an album with jazz pianist Glen Halls. Recalling an incident, Bhatt says, “We were listening to entire album and when the last song, a piece in Raga Bhairavi came on, I saw tears coming out of Halls’ eyes. He bent down, touched my feet and said, ‘You are God.’ I feel so good that Indian music can be at this level and people can like it so much.”