Raga rock

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Raga rock is a generic term used to describe rock and roll records with heavy Indian musical influences, either in construction or use of genuine Indian instrumentation, such as sitar and tabla.

The term is not usually used to refer to a specific genre of music, but rather as a more general descriptor for any sort of rock with heavy, audible debts to Indian classic music. Since Indian influences extend in particular through much 1960s rock, the term is most frequently used to refer to certain sounds from that decade, although heavily Indian-derived sounds are found in some post-1960s rock.

"Ragas" are specific melodic modes used in all Indian classical music. Thus, any rock songs with obvious Indian influences can be described as "raga-rock" although the term is frequently used to refer to much more explicitly Indian musical outings. The advent of raga rock is often traced to the July 1965 release of "See My Friends", a top ten single for The Kinks in England, although The Yardbirds "Heart Full of Soul", released earlier that year, featured a sitar-like riff by guitarist Jeff Beck. Famous later examples that could be described as "raga rock" (all with varying degrees of Indian influence) include Beatles compositions such as "Love You To", "Within You Without You", and "The Inner Light", or other 1960s songs such as The Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black", The Kinks' "Fancy", Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man", The Moody Blues "Om", or The Byrds' "Eight Miles High."