Paul McCartney and Vigen Terterian – The Story of a Photo

In February and March 1968, the musicians of the famous British band The Beatles, who were inspired by Eastern philosophy and music, arrived in India. Paul McCartney was accompanied by actress Jane Asher, with whom he was engaged at the time. On their way back from India to England, Paul and Jane decided to stay in Tehran for a couple of days.

This little-known fact is cited in Jane Asher’s personal blog, in which she also published two photos related to this trip. As the British actress writes, the photos were taken in Tehran at the end of March 1968. On one of them is the cover of one of the Iranian journals, on which individual shots of Paul and Jane visiting Tehran are presented.

Note that within the framework of this short private visit, Paul McCartney also expressed a desire to meet well-known local pop musicians. The meeting took place, as testified by the photo of Asher. The photo shows Paul McCartney smoking a hookah, and next to him is pop guitar musician Vigen Terterian.

Iranian-Armenian singer, composer, guitarist, and actor Vigen Terterian was one of the most famous and beloved pop stars of the 1960s and 1970s in Iran. He was nicknamed by his contemporaries “pop sultan” or “Sultan of Persian Jazz”. Vigen Terterian performed his works mainly in Persian, and also sang in Armenian and English.

In 1979, after the Islamic Revolution, he left Iran and settled in the state of California in the US, where he would stay until the end of his days. Vigen Terterian died in 2003 at the age of 74.

Ruben Shukhyan