Thrissur: He strums magic on strings that echo the soul of India  and now, he’s bringing that sound back home. Poly Varghese (53), a globally acclaimed Mohanaveena maestro and native of Valappad in Thrissur, is set to tour India later this year with his international band Rebravae, after staging performances across various parts of the world.

Poly is one of the few artists who have mastered the Mohanaveena, a unique stringed instrument that blends the tonal qualities of the sitar, veena and sarod. A disciple of Grammy-winning Hindustani musician Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Poly has been based in Melbourne, Australia, for the past four years.

His band Rebravae includes saxophonist Gideon Brazil and drummer Ron Reeves. The name Rebravae is a portmanteau of their names. Poly told Manorama that they plan to tour India in October or November, though the final schedule is yet to be confirmed.

Beyond being a musician, Poly is a poet, theatre and film actor, music composer, painter and a Baul-Sufi singer. He is also the inventor of the Polystring Guitar, an instrument featuring more than 40 strings. He is the son of social activist and journalist Varghese Mecheri and Alice. His wife, Dr Deepa Chandran Ram, is both a space scientist and an accomplished painter.

Poly’s life took a turn when he watched Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt perform on Doordarshan while he was studying mridangam at Kerala Kalamandalam after completing his tenth grade. At the age of 20, he travelled to Kolkata, enrolled at Shantiniketan to study Hindustani music and tabla and first met Bhatt at the Birla Academy in the early 90's. He went on to train under him in the traditional Gurukula style for 20 years. To this day, Poly performs with the same Mohanaveena that was gifted to him by his guru.

He has carried the Mohanaveena on his shoulders across borders, performing in countries throughout Central Asia and Europe. In 2012, he represented India at the MozArt Music Festival. Currently, he is also exploring the music and visual arts of the aboriginal communities in Australia, seeking to understand their traditional forms more deeply.

What is the Mohanaveena?
The Mohanaveena, with its 20 strings, is an instrument that fuses the tonal range and depth of the sarangi, sarod, sitar, veena, and guitar. It was invented by Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, who has created only five of them. Poly owns one of those rare instruments and has even added two more strings to it. This enhanced Mohanaveena is what he uses in his performances across the globe.