In a major boost to the brand Uttarakhand, The Beatles Story, a Liverpool-based permanent exhibition devoted to telling the story of lives and times of the English band, will launch a special one year edition on the artistes’ visit to India in 1968.
Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and John Lennon had visited the Chaurasi Kutia ashram to learn transcendental meditation from Mahrishi Mahesh Yogi. The four stayed for nearly two months. During their stay, the English band penned 48 popular numbers, some of which figured in the albums - The White Album and the Yellow Submarine.
The Beatles’ India tour will complete 50 years in February. The tourism and forest departments have joined hands for the event. Forest minister Harak Singh Rawat has announced a cut in the entry fee at the Chaurasi Kutia for one month.
The ‘Beatles in India’ exhibition exhibit never before seen memorabilia, imagery and personal accounts from the people who were there with the band in 1968. “A sitar used by Ravi Shankar will go onto display within the new immersive area, loaned to The Beatles Story by the Ravi Shankar Foundation,” said Diane Glover, an official associated with the event. Ravi Shankar’s influence on the Beatles had helped to popularise the use of Indian instruments in the 1960s pop music.
The exhibit will include photography from Paul Saltzman, a sound engineer for the National Film Board of Canada at the time, who photographed The Beatles during their stay. He is responsible for some of the most iconic and intimate images of the Fab Four in India.
{{/usCountry}}The exhibit will include photography from Paul Saltzman, a sound engineer for the National Film Board of Canada at the time, who photographed The Beatles during their stay. He is responsible for some of the most iconic and intimate images of the Fab Four in India.
{{/usCountry}}Pattie Boyd, former wife to George Harrison, and her sister Jenny Boyd, who were amongst the star-studded list of attendees in India, will be providing their personal insight into the time. The exhibit will look at the group’s inspiration for the trip, their introduction into transcendental meditation as well as the songs they worked on in advance of the White Album.
“It really was a special, magical time; forming many memories and, of course, an abundance of great Beatles music. I look forward to sharing thoughts and memories of India as part of the exhibition,” George Harrison’s former wife Pattie Boyd said.