The Beatles Indian influenced music Prog? (metal, pop, punk, reggae)

Zinnser · 03-21-2009, 01:19 PM

The Beatles were certainly progressive when especially George Harrison was working at a sophisticated level of extrapolating Indian scales to the Western setting, something no one else had done in rock music as compared to efforts like the Byrds or the Yardbirds. "Love You To", which is certainly derived from classical Indian, "Within You Without You", "The Inner Light", and even "Norwegian Wood" follows the raga khamaj avarohana is an unaltered raga.

One more song " Blue Jay Way,” was conceived on the harmonium but is more significant in that it reveals the depth of Harrison’s understanding of Indian music, as well as his ability to express it in a pop context. The opening sequence of notes imposes part of the scale from an Indian raga called “Marwa” onto a basic C-major chord. He uses notes that are dissonant in the C-major setting (E-flat and F-sharp), pivoting them around a C-diminished chord. It certainly was not rock ‘n’ roll, and the quality of his work was now to be found in the details-not in the immediate impact. Perhaps this is why this example of Harrison radically pushing the songwriting envelope is rarely discussed in such terms.

03-21-2009, 01:19 PM	#1 (permalink)
Zinnser Groupie Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 4	The Beatles Indian influenced music Prog? The Beatles were certainly progressive when especially George Harrison was working at a sophisticated level of extrapolating Indian scales to the Western setting, something no one else had done in rock music as compared to efforts like the Byrds or the Yardbirds. "Love You To", which is certainly derived from classical Indian, "Within You Without You", "The Inner Light", and even "Norwegian Wood" follows the raga khamaj avarohana is an unaltered raga. One more song " Blue Jay Way,” was conceived on the harmonium but is more significant in that it reveals the depth of Harrison’s understanding of Indian music, as well as his ability to express it in a pop context. The opening sequence of notes imposes part of the scale from an Indian raga called “Marwa” onto a basic C-major chord. He uses notes that are dissonant in the C-major setting (E-flat and F-sharp), pivoting them around a C-diminished chord. It certainly was not rock ‘n’ roll, and the quality of his work was now to be found in the details-not in the immediate impact. Perhaps this is why this example of Harrison radically pushing the songwriting envelope is rarely discussed in such terms.