…Or, maybe, he did hear Indian music and decided that it was just too “weird” for a mid-sixties Italian TV audience… but, hey, those sitars produce great sounding twangs so we’ll throw one in for a bit of "authenticity"...
This odd piece of pre-Ravi-Shankar soundtrack Orientalism was composed by Francesco Di Masi as the score to a 1966 Italian TV documentary about India. To give it its due, it’s a solid piece of soundtrack composition filled with creeping percussion, vibes, flutes, and the aforementioned sitar played like a carefully plucked banjo. Overall, it brings to mind some existential Western penned by a New Age Cormac McCarthy… but its meant to be a film about India. (Maybe, as the folks at Aquarius Records suggest, he’s composed it with the wrong type of “Indians” in mind.) Here, from the CD of the score, is the opening track, Alla scoperta dell’India. The album can be purchased from Aquarius Records.