Sitar Played by George Harrison and Stephen Stills
ITEM #868
This instrument was played by George Harrison at Friar Park and by Stephen Stills at his home recording studio in Los Angeles.
The following sections alternate between excerpts from Gary Wright’s book Dream Weaver and supplemental information from the owner of the collection, Chris Agajanian (in bold). Together, they tell the broader story of the adventure that led to Chris acquiring this sitar in India, and how it ended up in the hands of two of the world’s greatest musicians.
Returning to India
Gary: I met my dear friend Chris Agajanian through my tour manager, Ron Nehoda, while on a break from The Dream Weaver album tour. Ron had met Chris at a Stephen Stills party after a Peter Frampton concert in Los Angeles in 1976.
Chris was close with Stephen and they both shared an interest in racing cars, and Chris’s dad, J. C. Agajanian, was involved early on with the Indy 500. Both he and his family won four Indy 500 races over six different decades. The family were also the owners and operators of the well-known Ascot Park Raceway in LA.
We became good friends over the next few years, he was always positive and highly motivated, and I liked his energy. I asked him if he wanted to come to India with me. After a moment of reflection, he smiled and said, “India? Wow, I would love to go to India.”
CHRIS: In February ‘78, George Harrison, Warner Bros’ producer, Russ Titelman and I met at Gary Wright’s home for sushi dinner, to fix a rendezvous at the recording studio in “Crackerbox Palace”, the 62-acre estate known as Friar Park, a 120-room Victorian neo-Gothic mansion in Henley-on-Thames, that was built in 1889. The reason for the meeting was to discuss placing synthesizer on “If You Believe”, a song Gary had co-written with George.
Amid the constant flow of saké, many subjects were discussed, one happened to be the Magical Mystery Tour that Gary and I were departing on soon, the same tour George had taken Gary on previously. I asked George if there was anything he would like from India. He said yes, “A bottle of Khas oil”. I said, where can I find this Khas oil? The enlightened one spoke, “You will find it in the old marketplace in Varanasi near the main burning ghat”. He left no further instructions.
GARY: In April we arrived in Bombay after what seemed to be a 24-hour flight, if you added up all the layovers. George had always advised me to stay away from the big cities when traveling in India and to concentrate on the holy places and pilgrimage spots, which to me were the essence of India’s beauty.
CHRIS: Some days later at sunset, with bells ringing (to ward off evil spirits) and elaborate gifts of light floating on the Ganges, our path was straight ahead to the marketplace.
I wandered aimlessly, with Gary in tow, stooping under passageways, climbing uneven steps, and finally making way to a space draped with saris and floral blankets. Of course, like professed, we came upon a little old, gray-bearded man selling essential oils. Obviously, he spoke Hindi yet the task to purchase Khas was effortless.
The next day while walking the streets of New Delhi, we came upon a music store. I was completely intrigued with a sitar that I saw for sale. It’s not easy traveling around India carrying a sitar, but I was determined.
GARY: We spent six weeks visiting places that I didn’t get to see on my first trip with George: Kashmir, Hardwar, Rishikesh, Hera, and Kathmandu, to name a few. I wanted to make this trip a personal pilgrimage, visiting the places where my guru had played out his early role as a God-realized master. Chris graciously went along with the program, filming the sights and people as we went along.
Our six-week holiday was coming to a close, and it was getting unbearably hot, we had routed our tickets to fly from Delhi to London to pay George a visit on the way back to Los Angeles.
CHRIS: The trip through India was epic but wouldn’t compare with what was to come. George was a gracious host. I gave him the Khas oil but the first thing he did when he saw I had a sitar as part of my luggage was smile and say, “Oh you bought a sitar”. He opened the case pulled it out, ran his fingers across the strings and made that sitar come alive, it was hypnotic.
The three of us went up to the studio and he told me to sit at the board with him so he could explain how I was to work the soundboard faders, record/playback knobs, etc. He described what track he wanted dubbed and told Gary how he wanted his part to sound. While I was sitting at the board next to him, he asked if I wanted to hear a new song he had just written but hadn’t yet recorded the lead vocals. He cued up “Blow Away”, pushed play and as the powerful recording system took over the room, he sang the lead vocal directly into my right ear. At the end of the song, he asked if I liked it. If I didn’t levitate then, I doubt I ever will.
We headed down the hallway to our bedrooms for the evening to get a fresh start in the morning. The entire home was like walking through the most gorgeous piece of antique furniture you can conjure in your mind. As we passed a closet, George stopped to open it and show us something, perhaps it was for tomorrow’s recording session, I’m not sure, he was pointing out things, yet I really can’t recall what it was he was saying since the only thing my eyes were fixated on was his brilliant orange, Sgt Pepper uniform hanging there. Regrettably, I was speechless.
The next day, Gary and I went back into the studio to accomplish what we had come there for. We were kind of jet lagged from the long flight back to civilization but the consummate artist Gary, had no problem laying down flawless lines, using George’s Oberheim synth on the track he had co-written with George called “If You Believe,” which would end up on the “George Harrison” titled album.
GARY: While at Friar Park, George gave us his personal tour of the grotto. The gardens there in mid-May were beautiful, with spring bulbs flowering everywhere and trees filling out in green after a long cold winter. He showed us new plantings of trees, shrubs, and flowers, along with his explanations of why and where things were planted.
George loved his gardens, and it was very apparent as we strolled through the many different mini environments, he and his ten gardeners had created there.
The next day, George offered to drive us to the airport, which was quite a hair-raising experience, his version of driving in a Formula One car at the Grand Prix. I thought to myself, “We survived India with its tigers, cobras, and pythons, and now we’re ripping down the M4 motorway at a hundred and twenty miles an hour!” Given the speed we were traveling, we were stopped by a policeman, and as George rolled the window down, the officer politely said, “Oh, Mr. Harrison, sorry, on your way then.”
CHRIS: One more thought, as George was driving Gary and I back to Heathrow Airport, I thought I’d ask him a Beatle question that I was always curious about. I asked, “George, who was the first one that had long hair?” he looked at me and said, “I don’t know…. Jesus??”
Back at home, Stephen Stills got word from my dear friend Gerry Tolman that I had a sitar. So, he asked to borrow it for a song that he was writing. I’m not sure if the song was ever recorded but I do know that after four months in his studio, it was like pulling teeth to get it back.