Christensen, who lives in Mill Valley, and his former KGO TV colleague John Turner of Berkeley have chronicled Pandit’s life story in their new documentary “Korla,” which has its Bay Area premiere at San Francisco’s Museum of the African Diaspora on Aug. 20. From his first 1949 episodes of “Adventures in Music” on Southern California’s KTLA, Pandit rode an almost 50-year-long wave of success — as a TV sensation, prolific recording artist (13 albums with Berkeley’s Fantasy Records) and “grandfather of exotica music” — based not only on his keyboard prowess but on his enigmatic swami persona. With his heavily kohl-rimmed eyes and upturned half-smile, Pandit coaxed unusual sounds from the Hammond B-3 organ, playing “musical gems from far and near” — faux-Polynesian sounds, Hawaiian war chants, “hypnotiques” — while extolling the virtues of “divine consciousness” and “the universal language of music.” Yet, unbeknownst to his legions of fans until after his death in Petaluma in 1998, at age 77, Pandit’s hypnotic Svengali look and supposedly Hindu name were part of an expertly crafted fiction of self-invention. A magazine profile by R.
Exotic Korla Pandit Hid Race Under Swami Persona
By Jessica Zack, San Francisco Chronicle: Entertainment
Mon, 08/17/2015 - 4:17am
Topics: mill valley j bay area san francisco s museum african diaspora aug adventures music southern california s ktla hammond b-3 hawaiian petaluma svengali hindu j j roland redd columbia mo disney beryl debeeson indianization he east indian carlos santana miles davis the chronicle s radio waves ben fong-torres uc professor emeritus harry edwards gary cloud korla s if i stanford university assistant professor history allyson hobbs a chosen exile i d cloud angeles rachel dolezal a tv kgo tv j berkeley korla the if pandit pandit s r african american redd christensen turner korla indian african americans los american if exotic consciousness john sounds show people nephew
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