The Sitar and How It Has Influenced Western Music

Legend says that the sitar was invented by Amir Khusro himself an Indian poet, scholar and musician.

Mainly used in Hindustani classical music, the sitar has been around for over 700 years. Made with a gourd body (often carved out of a pumpkin), the sitar comprises of the basic elements of a stringed instrument. It has a neck, pegs, strings and a body. A sitar can have 18/19 or 20 strings, it also has 11, 12 or 13 sympathetic strings of which 3 or 4 provide the drone and these are located underneath the frets.

Up until the 1960s, the sitar had never been used in popular music. George Harrison was to change all that.

During a break filming Help, Harrison picked up a sitar (being used as prop) and attempted to play it. After this encounter he began getting lessons from the legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar. Soon after in 1965, the Beatles produced the first released Western pop song to include the sitar - Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), in which George played the Indian instrument.

The Beatles would go on to further display their influence from the sitar, writing songs such as Tomorrow Never Knows, Across The Universe and many more. Following their success with blending the sitar and popular music, other Indian instruments were introduced in their compositions, such as the tabla and tamboura.

Creating a very psychedelic effect on the music, many artists followed The Beatles use of the sitar and Indian instruments. Musicians such as The Rolling Stones (Paint It Black), The Lemon Pipers (Green Tambourine), Donovan (Hurdy Gurdy Man) all found inspiration through the sitar.

Even to this day popular musicians are using the sitar to enhance their creations. Newton Faulkner being one of the more recent artists to include sitar on his tracks.

Undeniably, the sitar has had a profound effect on popular music as we know it. Fusing the Indian instrument with Western instruments has worked wonders and produced some mind - blowing classic songs.

Discovering New (and old) Music

When I began to seriously study music (at the tender age of 17) I met an eclectic mix of people. There were the long haired leather clad metal heads, the peace loving flower power hippies, gangster/hip-hop r&b rappers, bubble gum popsters and mods complete with Beatle haircuts. All had varied tastes, but with one thing in common - we were all undeniably in love with music.

It was during these years of studying, I discovered how narrow my music taste was. In my extreme ignorance, I thought listening to The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix was enough (of course they are amazing), I didn't think I needed to listen to any other bands/artists. A good friend of mine recommended I listen to Led Zeppelin, yes I'd heard the name before I said, but didn't think I would enjoy them. HOW WRONG I WAS!

After listening to Communication Breakdown and Babe Im Gonna Leave You, I was hooked. I bought every single Led Zeppelin album and played them religiously. My ears had opened musically and my ignorance began to fade away. Curiosity struck and I found myself wondering where Led Zeppelin's inspiration had come from.

Much research later and I had discovered several artists, previously unbeknownst to me. They included Robert Johnson, Willie Dixon, Otis Rush, Howlin Wolf and Bo Diddley. Tantalizing my musical taste-buds, my research stumbled across Jazz (I knew Blues and Jazz were related) and I soon became a fan of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong.

Looking back, what's amazed me is how opened minded I became once I gave other bands/artists a chance. Had I been reluctant to listen to Led Zeppelin (or any other artist/band), I wouldn't have discovered such other wonderful music.

Since becoming musically liberated, I have discovered many songs/compositions that I really enjoy (some which I never would have dreamt of listening to before). Of course, it is not just classic rock, blues and jazz I listen to now, I will always give any piece of music a chance.

So my point in writing this article is to say don't just sit there and listen to Red Hot Chili Peppers (although they are pretty funky) find out who they are inspired by and give them a listen. Expand yourself musically, go to your local music store and buy a cd from a completely different genre that you normally listen to. Actively listen to the songs, if you enjoy them great, if not at least you gave them a chance.

Don’t limit yourself when you could be discovering much new (and old) brilliant music.