Paul and Jane’s short visit to Tehran

On March 24, 1968, Paul McCartney, Jane Asher, and Neil Aspinall left Rishikesh to return to London after having spent more than a month studying meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. They departed India on Qantas flight QF 763 at 23:45 and arrived in Tehran at 02:10. They spent a day in Tehran, where Paul was interviewed on Iranian TV, met with local pop star Vigen, and briefly experienced Iranian culture. They left Tehran on March 26 on Qantas flight QF 755, departing at 02:55 and arriving in London at 08:15.

In this exclusive photo, on the left of Paul, is Armenian singer, songwriter, guitarist and actor Vigen Terteryan (1929, Iran – 2003, Los Angeles), one of the most well-known and beloved pop stars of Iran in the 1960s-70s, called by contemporaries “The Sultan of Pop”. On the right of Paul, Vigen’s older brother Karo Terteryan, Persian Armenian poet and lyricist of Vigen’s songs. the author.

The story of the photo is this. In February-March 1968, musicians of the famous British rock quartet The Beatles, inspired by Eastern philosophy and music, travel to India. On his way back from India to England, Paul McCartney decides to stop in Tehran for a few days. During this short private visit, he wishes to meet and listen to pop musicians from their own country. լ their performances. The meeting was held and this photo represents an episode of that meeting.

From Ruben Shukhyan on Facebook, December 22, 2021

From Beatelha: Rock’s Early Days in Iran (iranian.com):

By Mehrdad Mehdizadeh
Wilmington, Delaware
January 1996
The Iranian

The recent Beatles anthology on the American ABC television network reminded me of Beatlemania days in the ’60s in Tehran when I was a teenager. I remember all the sensation about the Beatles, or “Beatelha,” as we called them (I even heard the double plural, “Beatles-ha”, used on a few occasions).

It may be argued that Western pop culture has always had some influence on Iranian urban youth; but that influence was exceptionally intense in the late ’60s and early ’70s. I realize that, even in those days, these influences affected only a minority of Iranians.

But the real issue was how visible and controversial this Beatles phenomenon was. Part of the picture was the efforts of the government at that time to promote Western culture and values through state-controlled media.

Overall, the Beatles became the symbol of many hot-button social issues, such as youthful rebellion against traditions, Western cultural influence (“gharb-zadegi“) and many more.

I first heard of the Beatles sometime around 1964, when I was a sixth-grader in Tehran. I remember my classmates’ interest in them and the disgust that my parents’ generation expressed in their long hair and qerty manners. Little did they know that the early mop-top Beatles hairstyle was nothing compared to more outrageous styles that appeared later among middle-class Iranians exposed to Western culture.

Then when I went to high school, the whole Beatles thing became even more intense. We lived through most of those years with talk of the Beatles and exchange of their 45s and LPs and sheet music. Many of the young fans were not flunkies or dropouts, but serious, studious students.

Very soon Beatles-imitation bands formed in Tehran. The most notable of them was the one started by Shahram Shabpareh (I do not remember the name of the group; it was an English name like “Golden Rings” or something like that). There were also other similar bands, like “Ojoobeh-ha.” These groups, which often played on TV, sang mostly in English (or sounded like English), and occasionally used Persian lyrics.

At some time in that amazing era, probably in 1966 [sic – 1968], Paul McCartney himself made a short, live appearance on Iranian national TV. Apparently his plane had a stop-over in Tehran and he agreed to come to the TV station and give a short interview.

The problem was that he did not seem interested in answering questions seriously. He played with his camera and practiced a few Persian words he had learned, like aks nageer (do not take pictures). He was apparently annoyed with security officials who did not let him take pictures. Some viewers, especially the older generation were unhappy with McCartney’s manners, and thought he was making fun of Iranians as a whole.

Anyway, years passed by, the Beatles broke up, and by the mid-’70s and the years leading to the revolution, Iranian interest in Western pop culture declined. The Iranian Beatles-like groups broke up too and those who started them, like Shahram Shabpareh, went after a new form of music, a mix of Iranian and Western tunes, which is now quite popular and mostly comes out of Los Angeles.

In my recent trip to Iran I found out that this Iranian pop style is quite popular there and is played a lot at parties. Not my taste personally, but at least in an indirect way, a lot of Iranian pop music today owes something to the Beatles.

We’ll wed soon, says Beatle Paul

BEATLE Paul McCartney was reported in Teheran to have said today that he and his actress girlfriend Jane Asher will be married soon. The couple flew home later today after a two-day sight-seeing and shopping visit to Teheran. They were returning from five weeks of meditation at the retreat in the Himalayan foothills of the Indian mystic Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Their purchases in Teheran included Persian lambskin jackets and rings for McCartney’s colleague, Ringo Starr. Ringo returned to Britain earlier this month after 10 days at the retreat.

Paul and Jane said their stay with the Maharishi was so successful that they plan to go on meditating for an hour each day — half-an-hour in the morning and half-an-hour in the evening.

Asked how he could equate the academy with all the poverty in India, Paul McCartney said: “Of course you have a conscience when you see beggars in the street, but there are so many of them that if you give them a few rupees they have one meal and have to start begging again. The Maharishi is trying to get to the root of the trouble.”

Paul said he paid for his stay but he could not remember how much it was. He and the other Beatles had written 10 songs while they were there. John Lennon and George Harrison are due home in three weeks.

From Birmingham Evening Mail – March 26, 1968

Paul denies marriage story

The Beatles’ press man Tony Barrow today denied this afternoon that Paul McCartney had said he was to marry actress Jane Asher soon. Earlier it was reported that Paul made his statement at Teheran on his way home from five weeks’ meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Mr. Barrow said: “Paul McCartney has asked me to make it clear that he has not made any marriage plans, nor did he discuss the subject with anybody in Teheran. This report is without any foundation.”

Paul and Jane arrived at Heathrow Airport this morning.

From Evening Post – March 26, 1968

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