Led Zeppelin’s Bombay jam of ‘72
In 1972, at the height of their fame, Led Zeppelin, the British rock band synonymous with thunderous riffs and mythic stage presence, took an unexpected detour by touching down in Bombay for what would become a deeply fascinating cultural and musical experiment. At the time, the band was at the peak of its creative prowess, riding the success of albums like Led Zeppelin IV, and prepping for future sonic explorations.
Following Zeppelin’s six-day tour of Japan, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and Richard Cole, its key members, set up camp in Bombay’s iconic Taj Mahal hotel. The idea was to attempt a fusion of Western rock and Indian classical music, resulting in a rare East-meets-West collaboration.
Page and Plant conducted jamming sessions with local musicians of Velvette Fogg and Human Bondage in clubs like Slip Disc. The impromptu nature of the event meant it saw little media coverage, although a few photos and a short interview appeared in the November issue of Junior Statesman, a popular youth magazine of the time. Sessions were also arranged at HMV Studios in Mahalaxmi, one of India's premier recording facilities at the time. With guidance from the legendary classical musician Vijay Raghav Rao and sarangi maestro Sultan Khan, Page and Plant intended to reinterpret existing Led Zeppelin material through Indian instrumentation.
A musical confluence between East and West
Among the tracks recorded were reimagined versions of ‘Friends’ and ‘Four Sticks’, featuring Indian arrangements that stripped down the electric guitar dominance and replaced it with intricate classical textures.
Zeppelin’s Bombay recordings, though never officially released, have since surfaced as bootlegs known as The Bombay Sessions. Unlike many Western artists of the era who dabbled superficially in Eastern sounds, Page and Plant immersed themselves in the nuances of Indian rhythm and melody. Back in England, the Bombay tapes were stowed away, eventually surfacing in 2015 with the deluxe reissue of Coda.
Building on their Bombay experiment, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page would return to the idea of cross-cultural collaborations in their 1994 project No Quarter: Unledded, which included performances with Egyptian and Moroccan musicians. Led Zeppelin’s Bombay sessions marked a significant step in the evolution of global musical exchange.
In the pre-fusion era of music, Zeppelin's brief but bold cross-cultural engagement reflected their openness to experimentation and the desire to transcend musical boundaries.
Image source: The Revolver Club, The Hindustan Times
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