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Sitar In Popular Music
While the sitar had earlier been used in jazz and Indian film music, it was from the 1960s onwards that various pop artists in the Western world began to experiment with incorporating the sitar, a classical Indian stringed instrument, within their compositions. Early uses in Western pop music Before the sitar was first used on a Western pop recording, the instrument's drone had been imitated on electric guitar by the Kinks on their 1965 single "See My Friends". Another English band, the Yardbirds, hired a sitar player to play the main riff on their song "Heart Full of Soul", but the group subsequently re-recorded the track without a sitar part. The first pop release to feature sitar was instead "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", issued on the Beatles' ''Rubber Soul'' album in December 1965. With this sitar part, George Harrison became the first Western musician to play an Indian instrument on a commercial recording. Harrison is recognised as having introduced the sitar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Help! (film)
''Help!'' is a 1965 British Musical film, musical Comedy film, comedy-Adventure film, adventure film directed by Richard Lester, starring The Beatles and featuring Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron, Victor Spinetti, John Bluthal, Roy Kinnear and Patrick Cargill. The second film starring the Beatles following Lester's ''A Hard Day's Night (film), A Hard Day's Night'', ''Help!'' sees the group struggle to protect Ringo Starr from a sinister thugee, eastern cult and a pair of mad scientists, all of whom are obsessed with obtaining a sacrificial ring sent to him by a fan. The soundtrack was released as the band's Help!, fifth studio album under the same name. ''Help!'' had its Royal World Premiere at the London Pavilion Theatre in the West End of London on 29 July 1965 in the presence of Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon and the Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, Earl of Snowdon. While not reviewed at the time with the same high level of admiration as their fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Across The Universe
"Across the Universe" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song first appeared on the 1969 various artists' charity compilation album ''No One's Gonna Change Our World'' and later, in a different form, on their 1970 album ''Let It Be (Beatles album), Let It Be'', the group's final released album. The original version featured on two different albums both titled ''Rarities_(Beatles_compilations), Rarities'': a 1978 British release and a 1980 US release. It was also included on their 1988 album ''Past Masters, Past Masters, Volume Two''. The song has been covered by many artists, including David Bowie on his 1975 album ''Young Americans'', which featured contributions from Lennon. Composition One night in 1967, the phrase "words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup" came to Lennon after listening to the voice of his then-wife Cynthia Powell, Cynthia. The flavour of the song was heavil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tomorrow Never Knows
"Tomorrow Never Knows" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released in August 1966 as the final track on their album ''Revolver'', although it was the first song recorded for the LP. The song marked a radical departure for the Beatles, as the band fully embraced the potential of the recording studio without consideration for reproducing the results in concert. When writing the song, Lennon drew inspiration from his experiences with the hallucinogenic drug LSD and from the 1964 book '' The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead'' by Timothy Leary, Richard Alpert and Ralph Metzner. The Beatles' recording employed musical elements foreign to pop music, including musique concrète, avant-garde composition and electro-acoustic sound manipulation. It features an Indian-inspired modal backing of tambura and sitar drone and bass guitar, with minimal harmonic deviat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shambhu Das
Shambhu Das (born 1934) is an Indian classical music, Indian classical musician and educator. He is best known for his long association with Ravi Shankar, on whose behalf Das has acted as an ambassador for Indian music in Canada since the early 1970s, and his friendship with George Harrison of the Beatles, whom Das helped teach sitar in 1966. His assistance in Harrison's immersion in Indian culture helped inspire the Beatles' career direction and, due to the band's popularity and influence, the direction of the Counterculture of the 1960s, 1960s counterculture. In 1970, Das established the Indian Music Department at Toronto's York University, where he taught for four years. Das recruited the Indian musicians and played sitar on Harrison's 1968 solo album ''Wonderwall Music'', which was partly recorded in Bombay. He occasionally accompanied Shankar at his concerts and has performed himself throughout North America, Europe and India. From the 1990s, Das's work has increasingly drawn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar (; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, sometimes spelled as Rabindra Shankar Chowdhury; 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North Indian classical music in the second half of the 20th century, and influenced many musicians in India and throughout the world. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999. Shankar was born to a Bengali Brahmin family in India, and spent his youth as a dancer touring India and Europe with the dance group of his brother Uday Shankar. He gave up dancing in 1938 to study sitar playing under court musician Allauddin Khan. After finishing his studies in 1944, Shankar worked as a composer, creating the music for the ''Apu Trilogy'' by Satyajit Ray, and was music director of All India Radio, New Delhi, from 1949 to 1956. In 1956, Shankar began to tour Europe and the Americas playing Indian classical music and incr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asian Music Circle
The Asian Music Circle (sometimes abbreviated to AMC) was an organisation founded in London, England, in 1946, that promoted Indian and other Asian styles of music, dance and culture in the West. The AMC is credited with having facilitated the assimilation of the Indian subcontinent's artistic traditions into mainstream British culture. Founded by Indian writer and former political activist Ayana Angadi and his English wife, Patricia Fell-Clarke, a painter and later a novelist, the organisation was run from their family home in the north London suburb of Finchley. In the 1950s, with Yehudi Menuhin as its president, the AMC organised the first Western performances by Indian classical musicians Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan, as well as Vilayat Khan's debut concerts in Britain. During the following decade, the Angadis introduced George Harrison of the Beatles to Shankar, initiating an association that saw Indian music reach its peak in international popularity over 1966–68. The Mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Within You Without You
"Within You Without You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 album '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. Written by lead guitarist George Harrison, it was his second composition in the Indian classical style, after "Love You To", and inspired by his stay in India in late 1966 with his mentor and sitar teacher Ravi Shankar. Recorded in London without the other Beatles, it features Indian instrumentation such as sitar, tambura, dilruba and tabla, and was performed by Harrison and members of the Asian Music Circle. The recording marked a significant departure from the Beatles' previous work; musically, it evokes the Indian devotional tradition, while the overtly spiritual quality of the lyrics reflects Harrison's absorption in Hindu philosophy and the teachings of the Vedas. The song was Harrison's only composition on ''Sgt. Pepper'', although his endorsement of Indian culture was further reflected in the inclusion of yogis such as Paramahansa Yoga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tabla
A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబలా, ur, , group="nb", name="nb" is a pair of twin hand drums from the Indian subcontinent, that are somewhat similar in shape to the bongos. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as accompaniment with other instruments and vocals, and as a part of larger ensembles. It is frequently played in popular and folk music performances in India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.Tabla Encyclopædia Britannica The tabla is an essential instrument in the |
Tanpura
The tanpura (), also referred to as tambura and tanpuri, is a long-necked plucked string instrument, originating in India, found in various forms in Indian music. It does not play melody, but rather supports and sustains the melody of another instrument or singer by providing a continuous harmonic bourdon or drone. A tanpura is not played in rhythm with the soloist or percussionist: as the precise timing of plucking a cycle of four strings in a continuous loop is a determinant factor in the resultant sound, it is played unchangingly during the complete performance. The repeated cycle of plucking all strings creates the sonic canvas on which the melody of the raga is drawn. The combined sound of all strings–each string a fundamental tone with its own spectrum of overtones–supports and blends with the external tones sung or played by the soloist. Hindustani musicians favour the term ''tanpura'' whereas Carnatic musicians say ''tambura''; ''tanpuri'' is a smaller varian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Revolver (Beatles Album)
''Revolver'' is the seventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 5 August 1966, accompanied by the double A-side single "Eleanor Rigby" / " Yellow Submarine". The album was the Beatles' final recording project before their retirement as live performers and marked the group's most overt use of studio technology to date, building on the advances of their late 1965 release ''Rubber Soul''. It has since become regarded as one of the greatest and most innovative albums in the history of popular music, with recognition centred on its range of musical styles, diverse sounds, and lyrical content. The Beatles recorded ''Revolver'' after taking a three-month break at the start of 1966, and during a period when London was feted as the era's cultural capital. Regarded by some commentators as the start of the group's psychedelic period, the songs reflect their interest in the drug LSD, Eastern philosophy and the avant-garde while addressing themes such as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Love You To
"Love You To" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album '' Revolver''. The song was written and sung by George Harrison and features Indian instrumentation such as sitar and tabla. Following Harrison's introduction of the sitar on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" in 1965, it was the first Beatles song to fully reflect the influence of Indian classical music. The recording was made with minimal participation from Harrison's bandmates; instead, he created the track with tabla player Anil Bhagwat and other Indian musicians from the Asian Music Circle in London. The composition adheres to the pitches of the Indian equivalent of Dorian mode and emulates the khyal vocal tradition of Hindustani classical music. For musical inspiration, Harrison drew from the work of master sitarist Ravi Shankar, who became his sitar tutor shortly after the recording was completed. In its lyrical themes, "Love You To" is partly a love song to Harrison's wife, Pattie B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
