Onstage at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit, Michigan on August 13, 1966; photo by Bob Bonis (scanned from his book The Lost Beatles Photographs: The Bob Bonis Archive).
āGeorge was first [to be interviewed], with his black shirt and black pants reflecting the serious look on his face. But get George talking about Indian music as heās perched on a table top with his legs tucked in front of him, and his eyes light up. He looked straight into my eyes and spoke with great intensity.
George is interested in the work of Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitar player. George used the sitar on cuts for the Beatlesā āRubber Soulā and new āRevolverā albums. How did an Englishman get so hung up on Indian music?
āA whole lot of things got me interested,ā he said. āThe more I heard it, the more I liked it. Itās very involved music. So involved. Thatās why the average listener doesnāt understand. They listen to Western music all their lives. Eastern music is a different concept.
āThe main hang-up for me is Indian classical music. Really groovy, to pardon the expression, as opposed to the hip things in Western classical musicā¦ Indian music is hip, yet 3,000 years old.
āI find it hard to get much of a kick out of Western music. Even out of Western music I used to be interested in a year ago. Most music is still only surface, not very subtle compared to Indian musicā¦ Music in general, us included, is still on the surfaceā¦ā
That last remark is indicative of the Beatles attitude ā they are not big-headed stars, they can tear themselves down on occasion. They really come on as artists aware of their talent, but not wrapped up in themselves.
āYou might include this in your article,ā George went on. āFor anyone who likes music a lot and has a good understanding of it, let me suggest they listen to Indian classical musicā¦ Iād like to see more people interested in it, honestly interested. Not just to cash in on the sitar boom.
āOn āNorwegian Woodā on the āRubber Soulā album I used the sitar like a guitar. On the new album I developed it a little bit. But Iām far from the goal I want to achieve. It will take me 40 years to get there. Iād like to be able to play Indian music as Indian music instead of using Indian music in popā¦ It takes years of studying, but Iām willing to do that.ā
Georgeās passion for Indian music is so catching he made me want to hear Shankar play right then and there.
[ā¦] āWeāre very influenced by others in pop music and others are influenced by usā¦ Thatās good. Thatās the way life is. Youāve got to be influenced and you try to be influenced by the best.āā - article by Loraine Alterman, Detroit Free Press (August 19, 1966)
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