Korla Pandit ranked among exotica’s most striking personalities, attaining a measure of fame in the 1950s through a Los Angeles–based television program that reached additional markets nationwide. The program centered on his keyboard work; he appeared in a turban, remained silent throughout each broadcast, and played a Hammond B-3 while fixing his gaze on the lens, adding flourishes drawn primarily from the Far East and, to a smaller extent, from Latin traditions. Although such sounds no longer register as especially unusual, the simple appearance of a performer of Indian descent on the still-novel medium of television struck viewers as groundbreaking at the time.
Questions continue to surround his background, yet he maintained that his birthplace was New Delhi. While he composed a portion of his material, the bulk of his sets consisted of familiar standards recast in exotic arrangements. This approach placed him squarely within exotica’s core practice, which favored lightly infusing mainstream pop with global touches rather than delivering unfiltered world music, thereby appealing to a broad Middle American listenership. During his peak years he issued more than a dozen albums on Fantasy alone. In the late ’80s and ’90s a new audience rediscovered his catalog, prompting a modest resurgence that included an interview for the book Incredibly Strange Music, Vol. 2, occasional concert appearances, and a self-portrayal in the film Ed Wood.
