On This Day in 2012, We Lost the Musician Who Taught George Harrison Sitar and Helped Inspire The Beatles’ Psychedelic Rock Sound

When one references the greatest contributors to the psychedelic rock movement of the 60s, they likely think of The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, Pink Floyd, and The Beatles. However, have you ever heard of the name Ravi Shankar? It isn’t surprising if you haven’t, but if you fancy yourself a music buff, then you should, as this man, known as the “godfather of world music,” made waves in the 1960s music scene both in his home country of India and in the West. Tragically, on this day, December 11, 2012, Shankar, a dear friend of George Harrison’s, passed away at 92 years old.

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For those who don’t know Shankar, he was a world-renowned Indian sitar virtuoso and composer, credited with popularizing traditional Indian music in the West. How he came to achieve this was not only through his own talent, but also with the help of George Harrison, who was first introduced to Shankar’s music by Roger McGuinn and David Crosby.

Subsequently, Harrison first played the sitar on The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood”. Then, finally, in 1966, Harrison met Shankar for the first time, and the two cultivated a beneficial mentor-mentee relationship that both inspired Harrison and helped launch the widespread career of Ravi Shankar.

The Mutually Beneficial Relationship Between George Harrison and Ravi Shankar

Together, Ravi Shankar and George Harrison changed the American musical landscape. By teaching Harrison the sitar, Harrison infused the sitar in tracks such as “Within You Without You”, “Love You To,” and “The Inner Light”. Furthermore, singles  “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Across the Universe” used related Indian instruments like the tamboura. Needless to say, Shankar was responsible for the Eastern musical influence integrated into The Beatles’ psychedelic music.

Thanks to this relationship with Harrison, Shankar got the opportunity to introduce both himself and Indian music to a large Western audience. Key moments that Harrison provided Shankar are when he booked him for the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and when they co-organized the massively influential charity rock concert, the Concert for Bangladesh.

Up until Harrison’s passing in 2001, the two remained sincere friends and partners. They co-headlined the Music Festival from India tour in North America in 1974, and Harrison produced several of Shankar’s albums, as well as edited Shankar’s autobiography in 1997.

Following Harrison’s passing, Shankar continued being a musician, composer, and cultural ambassador on behalf of India up until he died in 2012. In 2012, Shankar passed away at 92 years old in San Diego, California.

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