Effect of Indian culture on Beatles

Beatles, a legendary band from England, has changed their style and tone of songs since around 1965. This change had influenced both the music and the lyrics. Unlike the romance songs from the previous years, that were active and determined with colorful romance, the songs from late 1965 were slower, with eastern sounds, less expressive, and with relatively vague lyrics. This change in Beatles art was the effect of Indian culture.

Beatles band got significantly influenced by Indian culture because of George Harrison’s passion to sitar. Harrison wrote:

We were waiting to shoot the restaurant [in the movie]… and there were a few Indian musicians playing in the background. I remember picking up the sitar and trying to hold it and thinking, "This is a funny sound." … I bought a cheap sitar from a shop called India Craft in London. I hadn't really figured out what to do with it. But when we were working on "Norwegian Wood" it just needed something. It was quite spontaneous ... I just picked it up and found the notes and just played it. (Wikipedia)

Harrison was the one, who brought Indian culture to the Beatles. He completely converted to Hindu later, but in 1965, this Indian influence only manifested through slower music, more vague philosophical lyrics, and the sound of George Harrison’s sitar.

The song Norwegian Wood (download) is one of the greatest manifestations of Indian culture in Beatles’s songs. Alien to European music, the sound of sitar adds certain high resonating string sounds, backed with a regular guitar. These sounds of sitar at the background are immediately associated with eastern motifs; a western person only hears sitar in Indian movies and ethnic cafes. The sound of sitar adds some indescribable emotions and even memories to the song, making it calmer and relaxing.

Sitar, the instrument that so inspired George Harrison, is «a lute of India with a small, pear-shaped body and a long, broad, fretted neck,» (Lexico) as the web definition offers. It is an Indian national musical instrument played in the entire Indian subcontinent.

Indian culture has influenced many artists; custom essays are available on this subject.