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REMEMBERING KORLA

This page contains personal memories of Korla Pandit.

If you have memories you'd like to share, please send them to these pages.

We would love to hear from you!

I clearly remember how I first "met" Korla. Some 15 years ago a friend played me "Korla Pandit At The Pipe Organ" in an old house in the red light district of Arnhem, a Dutch town near the German border. He was selling off some of his records and I was invited to have a listen. At that time I was very interested in experimental music, so we happily listened to albums filled with weird noises, sound effects and scraping. To balance things, he put on the Korla album, which immediately blew me away! I purchased the disc with a smile on my face and in my heart. And so the Big Hunt for Korla Pandit music began, which was pretty difficult in the pre-Internet and pre-Ebay days. Still, over the last 15 odd years I collected a large number of his albums, singles and memorabilia. I even wrote a letter to Korla, telling him how much his music meant to me, but it was returned - I was a few months too late and Korla had sadly passed on. Even though I have kept my love for experimental music, Korla comfortably snugs in with albums by Nurse With Wound or Beequeen, proof of how universal his music really is. I feel very privileged to have made friends with Verne Langdon who was very close to Korla and who gave me his trust to continue the website. It seems like the least I can do for Korla, who gave me so much.

Freek Kinkelaar, www.korlapandit.com, The Netherlands.

I drove to San Francisco to see his tiki revival show. It was awesome. There I was in Bimbo's nightclub, a San Francisco landmark from the past, watching Korla Pandit, a San Francisco legend from the past. He looked the same, and most important, played the same. The years seemed to melt away, as time stood still for me that night, and for everybody who was there, a "full house". Thanks Korla, for the memory!

Betty Hansan, San Jose, CA.

... back in the day, he was the most UNIQUE and INTRIGUING novelty ANYONE had ever seen or heard on Television. And of course in THOSE days, what you now call "lounge music" plus his "Indian" themes really tickled the folk's ears and senses! Yes, those were the days, my friend......

Matthew B., Hayward, CA.

Every afternoon my mother and I would sit down in front of the television and watch the mysterious Hindu Korla Pandit, jewel dangling hypnotically, gaze into the camera (we thought he was staring right at us!) and play some of the most beautiful music we have ever heard. My mother has long since passed away, but when I think of those times, and the music Korla brought into our lives, she is alive again, vivid in my memory, and Korla Pandit is the one who enlivens my imagination to this day.

Gary W., Seattle, WA.

...people do remember Korla after being told but this is mostly the older set. The last time I saw Korla was great. After not seeing him for 10-15 years I had changed a great deal, but when I went through the receiving line to see him , Korla looked me right in the eye and before I could say a word he greeted me by name and wondered aloud whether or not I would be there. How he could stand there look at my face and tell this was the same person who used to be a little kid marveling at his music I'll never know. It was a great moment, and he asked about my mother, so that was special that he remembered her after all these years.

Ron Coniper, Ogden, Utah

My name is Ron Redifer. I was good friends with Shari Pandit and knew Korla Pandit in Los Angeles. Shari was a member of my Doors band, Strange Daze from 1983 to 1986. The band had huge success. Shari was one of the most likeable characters I've ever met. We auditioned him and he lived with me before we toured extensively around North America. He would stare into a woman's eyes and she would be mesmerized by him. He was such a soulful man. He dated one of my wife's friends for a short time. I dearly miss him.

Korla came to my wedding at the La Meridian Hotel in Newport Beach in 1993. There were several older women and men there. They acted as though they had met Elvis when they met him. Nobody could believe he was at the wedding. I played drums with him on stage with the Hanley Page band and Shari. Shari played the piano as we walked down the isle. I couldn't get Shari to go to his room after the wedding he was having such a great time with everyone. We played together again for a brief period before he left to Canada. I will miss both of them.

Ron Redifer, Strange Daze Drummer, Indianapolis, Indiana

I never saw him without the turban. He really wasn't as strange as people might imagine. What you saw was there and it was real. It was not an act. I loved his attitude toward the public. He was very decent to them and never put them down in private. He wasn't that complicated where he imagined himself to be something that he wasn't.

Saul Zaentz, Berkeley film producer and owner of Fantasy Records

I just wanted to say thank you for the informative website on Korla Pandit. I only discovered Korla’s music through the movie Ed Wood.

Many of my contemporaries find my musical tastes strange, but I just couldn’t help being moved by Korla’s cameo in Ed Wood. It was mysterious, dark and yet soothing all at the same time. And forgive me for saying it this way, but - Man he could really Swing on that organ!

John Dunnock, location unknown.

When I was in the fifth grade, my Mom and Grandma took me to see Korla Pandit at the old West Seattle Organ Loft. This was in the seventies, when playing the organ was not chic. I had recently learned to play the organ,and I was pretty good at it, and my Gramma thought this would be a wonderful experience for me. My Dad of course, had an attitude about it, and was actually jealous of Mr. Pandit, as my mom had a crush on him when she ws younger, and had kept a signed photo of him, from a personal appearance at a music store. My Dad grabbed it and crumpled it up. My Mom straightened it out. It was a warm evening in May, and we stepped inside this very small theater with velvet drapes. Korla Pandit rose out of the depths on his beautiful organ bench with the beautiful, gold and white three manual organ, in a white suit, with his turban, I think it had a green jewel in it. He was a little bit older, than the photo, but he was brown and warm looking and smiled the entire time he played. I was dazzled. He made that instrument sing, and it seemed that he was really enjoying himself. I remember his accent, anouncing the song "The Rose of Denscanso" then he made the organ sound like birds, and then it was over too soon. My Grandma introduced me to him, and he was very kind, and he smiled and I still remember it. My Mom bought an album, that showed him in his younger years, and I played it over and over. There were songs like "Trance Dance" which sounded like snake charmers. There was the "English Music Hall Theme" which I learned to play by ear, as I did most of his songs. I used to entertain the relatives when they came, and I learned to do that gaze he had !! I really think that a lot of my style and showmanship, came from watching him. He really was wonderful. I will have to tell my Mom about the website. She adored him!! So thank you, Korla, for encouraging a skinny legged little girl to play music!!!

Lynell Robertson, location unknown.

As Korla Pandit's Entertainment Coordinator, Owner of "Enter - World Sound Productions" in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the 60's and early 70's ....

Korla and I were friends for several years .... I had the invitation to be His personal manager, but I declined, in order to be fair to him, as I had plans with my family, to "Found" Circle of Love Foundation, in Oklahoma USA, now a "Global Ministry". Korla shared many things about his Family History, how and when he began Music as a very young child .... Korla Pandit was instrumental in developing the many sounds you have enjoyed while playing your Hammond Organ ..... A Man of "Great" Talent in fact a genius ...in the field of music.

We will miss him and his lovely wife "Beryl" ...

Elizabeth "Betty" Luther, Catoosa, Oklahoma.

As a child, I remember watching Korla Pandit on television with my mother. Later, in 1969 (I was 19) I got to see and hear him live in San Gabriel, California. I remember that the music was beautiful. The most memorable song was "All Things Are Possible For He Who Believes In Love."

Michael Mastro, location unknown.

I was at the website for Korla Pandit and found it amazing and informative. As a child (I'm 61 now) I remember vividly that Korla Pandit was going to perform at the Purity Grocery Store in Livermore, CA. I waited anxiously for the day to arrive and I was the first person in the area of the store that had him and his organ. I was enthralled with his music and still to this day love piano and organ. I obtained on that day, a small program with his picture on the front and he autographed it for me. I have to add, that I could have stayed all day listening to his music. We have truly lost a genius when he died.

Kandi Adams, Lathrop, California.

I grew up in Boulder Creek, CA in the 1950's. Boulder Creek is a small town in the Santa Cruz mountains, 14 miles north of the city of Santa Cruz. Brookdale Lodge, located just South of Boulder Creek, was a resort catering to the elite of the San Francisco Bay Area. The Lodge featured (and still does) a dining room with a brook running through it. Numerous well known individuals and groups played at the Lodge during the 50's, including Korla Pandit and the Ink Spots. I read that Korla lived in Ben Lomond, CA at one time. Ben Lomond is located just a few miles South of the Brookdale Lodge. It is very likely Korla lived in Ben Lomond during the time he performed at the Lodge. He was a familiar sight in the San Lorenzo Valley, wearing a turban and driving a fancy convertible (I think it was a red Cadillac). A friend recently told me he saw Korla perform at a night club near the beach in Santa Cruz in the 1950's. As you can see, Korla made a big impression on many of us. More than 50 years have passed and we still remember him.

Thanks for keeping Korla's spirit alive.

Mike Russell, Aptos, California.

Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the web-site. It truly brought back fond memories of the 50's for me. I was teenager at that time and also playing a Hammond Organ. He always intrigued me as he did most people who appreciated his total presence and talent. I was so glad to learn more about his life and the many endeavors he pursued.

Jerry Clark, location unknown.

As a child living in the late 50's and early 60's, I remember gazing at a small compact organ on a raised podium in a department store probably one Saturday afternoon, standing side by side with my younger sister. And the organ was unoccupied, so we stared at it and wondered who was going to play. Then I even went up and sat down to marvel at the keys and gadgets. And I really thought I was sitting next to something miraculous. Yet I didn't know how to make it work. Then as I left the seat of the organ to gaze upon it once more by my sister's side, a man appeared, dressed in all white apparrel with a turban on his head. And I felt that he was from some foreign land. As from India. And he stood so gently by my side, probably seeing how interested I was in his organ. And I believe I said something to him. Are you going to play? And his voice was a whisper. And I'm really not sure what he said. Just very calm and peaceful. With kindess. And from there he went to the organ and played. It was the sound of an organ. With no particular melody. Only music that filled the moment.

Tim Gudz, location unknown.

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