The award-winning ‘The Beatles Story’ in liverpool, England, has unveiled a new special exhibition celebrating 50 years since The Beatles travelled to Rishikesh. The Beatles Story is the world's largest permanent exhibition purely devoted to telling the story of the band’s rise to fame.
‘Beatles in India’ is a one-of-a-kind exhibition, exploring this key and relatively secretive episode of the Beatles’ story with memorabilia, imagery and exclusive personal accounts from the people who were there with the band in 1968. A sitar used by Ravi Shankar is on display within the new immersive area, loaned to The Beatles Story by the Ravi Shankar Foundation. As George Harrison’s mentor, Shankar’s influence on the Beatle ultimately helped to popularise the use of Indian instruments in 1960s pop music. The exhibit also includes 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. A collection of Paul’s limited edition signed prints are available to view within the exhibition, as well as a life-sized version of his famous image depicting the Beatles with their entourage and Mahesh Yogi.
Pattie Boyd, former wife to George Harrison, and her sister Jenny Boyd, who were amongst the star-studded list of attendees in India, provide their personal insight into the time through exclusive video interviews. The interviews explore the groups’ inspiration for the trip, their introduction into Transcendental Meditation, the songs they worked on in advance of the White Album and some of the controversies surrounding their visit.
Speaking about her involvement, Pattie Boyd said, “Their trip to Rishikesh 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”.
Themed areas within the exhibition encompass some of the authentic colours, sounds and smells of Rishikesh so that visitors can really get a sense of what it was like for the Beatles. ‘The Bungalow’ set provides insight into the Beatles’ living quarters, an area used by the attendees for song writing. Diane Glover, marketing manager at The Beatles Story, visited Rishikesh in April 2017 and went to the Ashram (Chaurasi Kutia), which is now open as a tourist attraction. She said,“The 1968 visit was an important time of reflection for The Beatles as their manager, Brian Epstein had sadly passed away in the summer of 1967, and they escaped away from their fans and the media in search of spirituality.”
The ‘Beatles in India’ opened at The Beatles Story in liverpool on February 15 and will run for two years.