Charanjit Singh: 2010

In 1982, veteran Bollywood composer Charanjit Singh visits Singapore and gets his hands on the now holy trinity of a Roland 303, 808, and Jupiter 8 - the core of acid house and arguably the precursor to electronica as we know it today.

The thing is, he does this four years before the clubs of Detroit, Chicago, and Manchester do.

Later that year, EMI India releases an album limited to a few thousand copies: "Synthesizing: Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat". It presents Charanjit's effort at using what was then entirely new technology to bridge the gap between programmed beats, synth lines, and classical Indian music motifs.

It essentially sinks without a trace.

In 2010, Dutch label Bombay Connection re-releases this LP to an unsuspecting and wholly ignorant public, convinced that these beats were established in the clubs of Chicago, Detroit, and Manchester in the mid to late eighties.

They weren't.

Charanjit Singh still lives in Bombay. We met him.

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[Jagged85]

@ccritxsfc

The interviewer was simply saying "electronic music" to make him understand. Chiranjit Singh clearly had no idea what "acid house" music is, since he's been out of touch with contemporary dance music for a very long time.

Besides, to say that electronic music came from Germans is to ignore decades worth of work by the Japanese, Americans, and French, who all contributed to the development of electronic music since at least the 50s.

[EA78751]

I wish more electronic producers were exploring this style of music. A well-played improvisation in classical raga form is a beautiful thing. Hats off to Mr. Singh for his 1982 experiment, and I hope it encourages others to study Indian classical music.

[Pranav9977]

this shud be shown on Mtv but no they are too busy feeding us shitty chick shows..

[DrHappySmilealot]

He acts as if he doesn't know anything about what they're talking about. He mustn't remember ever making the tracks. Maybe they should have let him listen to some more modern acid house because he obviously didn't have a clue about it even though people call his music acid house... I guess his music is probably genreless in his eyes.

[cjsmalik88]

This is Charanjit Singh Malik :)



[DeliciousJay]

@BackToJack1990 it's not a nazi symbol, before they adopted it for their own use it was a common symbol used in various indian religions like hinduism or buddhism 

[thebigMuh]

@BackToJack1990

More likely a Hindu or Jainist swastika ;)

[BackToJack1990]

00:57 nazi swastika? wtf?

[upsidedahead]

Fantastic stuff ! Come on Charanjit Singh... Let's Do The Timewarp Again :)

[COMPACTASS1]

the master!!!! nice 303 roll!!

original acid trance!! nice!!

[Jagged85]

And oh yeah, one more country I forgot to mention before is Egypt... Many might be even more surprised to know that the first piece of electronic music was produced by an Egyptian called Halim El-Dabh way back in 1944.

[Jagged85]

@Jagged85

...Now that I think about it, Raga House could become the next Raga Rock?