The Dawn of Indian Music in the West

The release of "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" in 1965 by the Beatles formed a connection between to cultures, and "opened the floodgates for Indian instrumentation in rock music, triggering what Ravi Shankar would call the "The Great Sitar Explosion" of 1966-67" (Peter Lavezzoli 171). Many remember George Harrison for his work in the Beatles, for which he will be immortalized. However, I would argue that George's greatest accomplishment was not his ingenious work with the Beatles, but rather his initiating of Indian culture in the West. George Harrison should be remembered as "the most famous Western musician to recognize the importance of a non-Western musical tradition and give it a voice" (173). As a result of George Harrison's "discovery", Indian culture became "like a fashion" (Harrison 1968). Unfortunately, fashions go in and out of style, and thus the Indian revolution in the West was short lived. However it is possible that Indian music is making a comeback in the West. After all, Lavezzoli speculates: "perhaps electronically enhanced raga is the next step forward in the evolution of Indian music" (437).