Kaunsi Kanhra

Raga Kaunsi Kanhra is a Hindustani classical instrumental composition performed by Vishwa Mohan Bhatt on the mohan veena, a modified arch-top guitar adapted for Indian classical music. The track appears as the opening piece on the album Guitar a La Hindustan, released on August 7, 2012 in digital media format. The recording spans 29 minutes and 48 seconds, showcasing an alaap-jor-jhala structure characteristic of the dhrupad style, followed by a rhythmic exposition in teentaal (16-beat cycle).

Bhatt employs the Kaunsi Kanhra raga, a variant of the parent Todi thaat that incorporates komal re (flattened second), shuddha ma (natural fourth), and komal dha (flattened sixth). The performance highlights the instrument’s resonant sustain and Bhatt’s use of meend (glissando) and gamak (ornamentation) techniques, adapted from the sitar and veena traditions. The album carries no explicit label attribution in available sources, though Bhatt’s prior works often appeared under independent or specialty classical music distributors.

The composition reflects Bhatt’s synthesis of Hindustani classical idioms with the acoustic guitar’s timbral possibilities, a hallmark of his artistic approach since the 1980s. The track’s extended duration permits elaborate raga development, with the final jhala section emphasizing percussive strumming patterns. Contextual details regarding accompanying artists, live recording venues, or production personnel remain undocumented in public records. The album title, Guitar a La Hindustan, underscores Bhatt’s role in globalizing Indian classical music through Western instrumental adaptations.