Like so many developments in the guitar’s history—and this includes flamenco, Delta blues,
and even rock ’n’ roll—the genesis of Indian
slide is shrouded in mystery. Key figures in this
movement offer different interpretations of its
birth and who was the first to modify a guitar
for playing ragas.
But this much we know: It began with
Tau Moe (pronounced mo-ay), the Hawaiian
hero of our saga who first performed in India
in the late 1920s and ultimately settled in
Calcutta from 1941 to 1947. During this time,
Moe and his family performed and taught
Hawaiian music, and built and sold steel guitars. Many Indians—listeners and musicians
alike—became entranced with the sound of
steel guitar. Initially, these fans were attracted to
the novelty of Hawaiian songs, but by the early
’60s, steel guitar had become a familiar sound
within Indian popular music—and this remains
true today, especially in film soundtracks.
Brij Bhushan Kabra was one of the Indian
musicians who heard the steel’s siren call, but his
vision went beyond adapting Hawaiian sounds to
popular music. Instead, he saw the instrument’s
potential for playing ragas. To pursue this dream,
Kabra began studying with Ali Akbar Khan,
whose fretless sarod offered a sonic example for
Kabra to emulate with his lap-slide guitar. Kabra’s
instrument was a Gibson Super 400, modified
with a drone string and a high nut to raise the
strings off the fretboard like a lap steel. Seated on
the floor in the traditional style of Indian musicians, Kabra played his guitar horizontally, using
a fingerstyle plucking technique and a bar to
contact the strings. His approach set the standard
for virtually all Indian slide guitarists.
In 1967, Kabra recorded a groundbreaking album, Call of the Valley. Also featuring
Shivkumar Sharma on santoor, an ancient hammered dulcimer, and Hariprasad Chaurasia
playing a bamboo transverse flute called the
bansuri, the album was a hit not only in India,
but also with the Woodstock generation who was discovering
Hindustani music through sitarist Ravi Shankar. Perhaps the first
studio recording of Hindustani slide guitar, Call of the Valley is essential listening for anyone exploring this music. Next Kabra released
Two Raga Moods on Guitar, and though now out of print, this LP
confirmed his status as the father of the genre.
Following in Kabra’s footsteps, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (aka VM
Bhatt) modified his archtop to such a great degree that the instrument became known as the mohan veena. “I conceived the mohan
The father of the mohan veena lap slide guitar, Vishwa Mohan
Bhatt (above), studied with the great sitarist, Ravi Shankar.
INSET: Photo courtesy of Lars Jacobsen, Rain City Music
veena about 45 years ago,” says Bhatt. “I crafted it by modifying a
stunning guitar my sister brought to India from West Germany.”
Bhatt configured his guitar with three melody strings for playing
with a slide bar and added four plucked chikari drone strings and
12 tarab (or taraf) sympathetic strings, which vibrate and buzz like
a sitar. And that’s not surprising: Bhatt studied with Ravi Shankar
and is now a senior figure in this lineage. Through Bhatt’s concerts
and recordings, the mohan veena has become the de facto standard
for playing ragas on guitar.
