George Harrison preferred Indian music to other music, even rock and roll. Of course, George had profound experience hearing Elvis Presley and Fats Domino for the first time. But the impact on him was even greater when he first heard the sounds of Indian music.
George felt uncomfortable with his first encounter with music.
It was on the set of The Beatles’ “Help!” that George Harrison first heard Indian music.
In 1965, George heard Indian music for the first time on the set of the second Beatles movie. help! In one scene, the Beatles go to an Indian restaurant and the band plays.
According to Joshua M. Green Here Comes the Sun: George Harrison’s Spiritual and Musical JourneyGeorge came across a sitar on set and “couldn’t stop staring at it”.
“He picked it up and was intrigued by its unusual shape and dozens of strings. He was drawn to its unusual sound and strummed it,” Greene wrote.
In 1992 George told Timothy White: George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Dating), “I remember, when I was waiting to shoot the scene, I picked up the sitar, tried to hold it, and thought, ‘Wow, this sounds interesting.’ It was nothing more than
It wasn’t very memorable. It was his day during filming. I couldn’t remember what happened next. It was associated with freezer smoking and LSD ingestion. And… I hate to say it.
A few days later in London, George bought a sitar because it sounded strange. The band was trying to hype up their new song “Norwegian Wood”. So George improvised a sitar to the song and it worked.
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George felt that he had heard Indian music.
A friend of George’s, The Byrds, and later David Crosby of Crosby, Stills & Nash, recommended Ravi Shankar’s music. So the Beatles bought some Shankar albums. Shankar’s music surprised and a little intrigued George, as if he had heard the music before.
“One of Shankar’s most popular albums in 1965 was ragafeatured a duet with childhood friend and sarod master Ali Akbar Khan,” wrote Green. “The opening track ‘Raga Palas Kafi’ started with Tambura’s drone. Five long stainless steel strings sent a solitary note that repeated slowly and hypnotically, resonating deep within the instrument’s hollow base.
“Against this neutral, contemplative backdrop, Shankar played a longing, winding, dreamy series of notes that offered more suggestions than sound statements. It ebbs and flows like a rippling wave, luring the listener into deeper waters.A few years later, at that moment, George, emotionally, not intellectually, finds himself in a place he already knew. He said that the music made him feel familiar, as if it called back to him.
George explained to White how he felt when he first heard Indian music.
He said, “Somewhere I heard Ravi Shankar’s name, then I heard it again, and the third time I heard it, ‘Wow, this seems like a funny coincidence, this name is Ravi. I thought, Shankar.
“And I spoke with Dave Crosby of the Byrds about him.” he I said the name… I went and bought the record. I wore it and it seemed to hit a certain spot on me that I can’t explain. My intellect didn’t really know what was going on, but I stumbled across a place that was very familiar to me.
“The only way I could explain it was that my intellect didn’t know what was going on musically, yet the rest of me identified with it. I’m not sure, but you may have heard of it: When I was a kid, we had a shortwave radio, which was on all night long and my mom always turned it on every day. It was kind of weird to match.
“So maybe I heard it in Algeria or somewhere else, maybe I heard it in another lifetime! [Laughs.] Do you know? It was just like a call to me. Just hearing it made me feel so close. ”
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According to Green, the former Beatles mother played Indian music to him in the womb
At least according to Greene, George’s guess of where he was listening to Indian music before 1965 is somewhat accurate.
Technically, George first heard Indian music when his mother was pregnant with him. He wrote that he was playing Radio India.
It is also interesting to speculate that former Beatles may have listened to music during their lifetime. After listening to Indian music, George met Shankar and the legend of the sitar gave him an instrument and the tools to succeed in spiritual matters. took me to Soon George learned about reincarnation.
Maybe George remembered Indian music from his previous life and easily reconnected during his time in the womb and later sets. help! Of course, it might seem strange to hear sitar on set.
One thing is certain. It’s eerie that Indian music seemed as familiar to George as he had always known it. Was it some eerie coincidence, or was George destined to listen to the music? Only George now knows.
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