GEORGE HARRISON'S Inner Light Challenge

By the time I was born in the early 1970's The Beatles' 10 year explosion of musical brilliance had already run its course, and each member was well into his own solo endeavor. My first experience hearing the sitar was in the Beatles song "Norwegian Wood" while playing with Lincoln Logs as a toddler. Growing up I was peripherally aware of their music via the radio, but didn't really "get it" until I dove deep into their catalogue after acquiring a treasure trove of vinyl in my early 20's. Being an adolescent at the dawn of MTV, it was Tom Petty's fantastic Alice In Wonderland-themed video for "Don't Come Around Here No More" that  ignited the "sitar spark" in me. 

The video features Dave Stewart of Eurythmics (who co-wrote/co-produced the song with Mr. Petty) as the caterpillar perched atop a mushroom with a hookah and an instrument that looks like it came from another planet. I was intrigued. What was that crazy looking instrument?! Was it responsible for that cool chiming sound in the song? Would I be that cool if I played one? What was he smoking? How do I enter this enticing, psychedelic world? My young mind started to spin...and expand.

It wasn't until I attended Berklee College of Music after high school that I actually got to see and hear a sitar in person. An Indian duo performed at the school and I was blown away. It reminded me of those feelings of awe I had in my youth seeing Dave Stewart with his crazy nails holding that sitar on my television set. Five years later I moved to Northern California, which happens to be home to a world renowned school of Indian music established by Ali Akbar Khan. I finally got my hands on my own sitar, found an outstanding teacher named Peter Van Gelder who studied with Ali Akbar Khan and taught at the college, and started taking lessons. I began (or continued) my journey.

My interest in sitar had always been to see how I could apply it to my own music. As a flavor to my rock songs or film scores. I had no ability (or desire) to compete with players who started as children practicing 18 hours a day chained to a tree by their "Baba" until they got it right, as is the lore of Ali Akbar Khan. I'm more of a "what cool sounds can I squeeze out of this instrument?...and this instrument?...and this instrument?..." kind of player. Though, I did really enjoy my studies and went deeper on the sitar than with any other instrument besides guitar...which is where I started learning music. Being that it is an instrument you play sitting on the floor while balancing it on your bare foot and knee, I went as deep as my 6'3" body with agonizingly tight hamstrings would allow!

​Last week George Harrison's The Material World Foundation, who has already donated $500,000 to non profit organizations who are helping those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic, announced a challenge that would get others involved to help add another 100K to their donations. It involves creating your own interpretation of George Harrison's "The Inner Light" composition that was originally the B side of the "Lady Madonna" single in 1968. Sitar did not appear on the original recording, but it does feature an amazing cast of Indian musicians including sarod player Aashish Khan. Inspired by the cause, I decided to create my own sitar version to contribute to the challenge. As I started putting the pieces together, I felt it needed a little bowed bass and percussion to fill it out. The above video is the final version I created. So far there has been an outpouring of amazing musicians who have offered up their own versions including Daniel Lanois, Mike Campbell, Jim James, Jewel, Jeff Lynne, Richard Marx, and George's son Dhani Harrison. There have also been a number of fantastic visual art works made.

Thank you George Harrison and The Beatles for introducing the western world to Indian music, musicians, and musical instruments. And thank you George for  starting me on this lifelong journey of musical exploration. Your spirit lives on.

- Chris Vibberts

Learn more and join in at The Material World Foundation.

Without going out of my door
I can know all things on earth
Without looking out of my window
I can know the ways of heaven
The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows

Without going out of your door
You can know all things on earth
Without looking out of your window
You can know the ways of heaven
The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows

Arrive without traveling
See all without looking
Do all without doing
​
#innerlight2020