Witness

Following the Beatles final concert tour, George Harrison travelled to India in 1967 to learn sitar under the renowned musician Ravi Shankar.Fleeing Beatlemania he travelled in disguise to Mumbai and then to Srinagar in Kashmir.Listening to BBC archive and using excerpts from a Martin Scorsese documentary, we hear one of the world's most famous guitarists challenge himself to learn a new instrument.The moment influenced George’s spirituality, his burgeoning solo musical career, as well as the Beatles. It also propelled Ravi Shankar further into the limelight.The musicians remained lifelong friends. Ravi says they last saw each other on 28 November 2001, the day before George died.Produced and presented by Surya Elango.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, c