Raga Bhairav - 1982 - SYNTHESIZING: TEN RAGAS TO A DISCO BEAT - Charanjit Singh

YouTube via bombayconnection. via Derek on Facebook
Update: 10 track video playlist added below.

"www.BOMBAY-CONNECTION.com

CHARANJIT SINGH - Synthesizing: TEN RAGAS TO A DISCO BEAT - india 1982

OUT MARCH 2010 on vinyl & mp3, order here:

http://www.bombay-connection.com/en_G...

Bombay, 1982: Bollywood session musician Charanjit Singh set out to translate ancient Indian classical Ragas to the modern synthesizer and invented house music along the way!

OUT ON CD: april 19th 2010"

"*Until recently it wasn’t much more than some rumours on the web: a 1982 released LP called TEN RAGAS TO A DISCO BEAT containing Kraftwerk-like acid house music, years before the genre was invented.

So it turns out, the record was no rumour. Only a few hundred copies of the LP were ever pressed, and only a handful seem to have survived. Moreover, the LP outdoes all expectations. Performed on the synths that would later define Acid House, the Roland TB-303 and TR-808, the album sounds light years ahead of its time with its repetitive beats and hypnotic electronic melodies. Its maker, Bollywood session musician Charanjit Singh, set out to translate ancient Indian classical Ragas to the modern synthesizer and in doing so seems to have invented House music along the way. The 10 tracks make a consistent listen from A to Z. Its restrained minimalism and lack of cheesiness makes it incredibly contemporary, sounding animated, fluid and unabashedly alive."

First TB-303 recording?

Update 4/26/2013:


Uploaded on Apr 3, 2010 mudkipNDS·39 videos

"UPDATE: Changed the album title to the original release, away from the title that Bombay Connection gave to it.

Track listing found here: http://www.discogs.com/Charanjit-Sing...

B2 - 33rpm - Raga Yaman
Charanjit Singh
Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat [1982]

http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=28...

From the Bombay Connection website:

Charanjit Singh's 'Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat' is quite easily one of the maddest records we've ever had in stock. It was originally made in 1982 by a Bollywood soundtrack composer, intending to capitalise on the disco phenomenon with a combination of centuries-old classical Indian Ragas set to a disco backing. To achieve this Charanjit used a prototypical acid set-up of Roland TB303 bass melody sequencer and TR808 drum computer together with a Jupiter-8 keyboard. He basically created a sound which mirrored, and more importantly, pre-dated the first acid house record - Phuture's 'Acid Track' by five years, and even preceded Chip E's 'Jack Trax' in 1985. It's no throw-away novelty record either, instead capturing the hypnotic potential of acid music in the most ornate and scarily prescient fashion, making explicit the similarities of infinitely arpeggiated bass sequences and pure electronic pulses that would soundtrack dancefloors for the next 30 odd years. The more cynical among you will probably be thinking this is Ceephax or Aphex Twin delivering one of the most elaborate in-jokes of their career, but with the gatefold sleeve depicting the original sleeve and some in-depth liner notes from the label and Charanjit, our cynicism is waning in favour of absolute shock and awe. 'Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat' is vintage futurism of the highest calibre, and made all the more amazing by the fact it came from India, a place hardly renowned for its electronic output! This is a remarkable record and comes with our highest recommendation - AN ABSOLUTE FIND.

Recorded in 1982 at HMV Studios In Bombay [sic], India

© Bombay Connection, 1982"

via Waveformanalogueresearch Elektro on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

RIP Charanjit Singh

Mumbai-based Charanjit Singh has passed away at the age of 74. For those not familiar with him, he was an electronic music pioneer that many claim to have inadvertently created the world's first acid house record, notably with the Roland TB-303. You can listen to it above.  Note his was recorded in 1982. You can see him pictured below with a Roland Jupiter-8 and TR-808.   You can find a previous post on the release here.

via The Guardian:

"Electronic music pioneer Charanjit Singh, 74, has died. The cult figure, who was noted by some as the creator of the first ever acid house record, died at his home in Mumbai on 3 July.

Charanjit Singh on how he invented acid house ... by mistake

Although he had forged a career as a session musician playing on numerous Bollywood film soundtracks throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the producer’s proto-acid music had a revival in 2010, when his 1982 album, Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat, was reissued by record label Bombay Connection. Although Singh was reluctant to claim his part in the evolution of the genre, the album was one of the earliest records to use the Roland TR-808 drum machine and the Roland TB 303 bass synth – a machine that built much of the acid house sound.

'There was lots of disco music in films back in 1982,' Singh said, in a 2011 interview with the Guardian. 'So I thought, why not do something different using disco music only. I got an idea to play all the Indian ragas and give the beat a disco beat – and turn off the tabla. And I did it. And it turned out good.'"

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 electronic dance music as we know it today.

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 Bollywood 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."

This one in via Dustin.

Also see:
Raga Bhairav - 1982 - SYNTHESIZING: TEN RAGAS TO A DISCO BEAT - Charanjit Singh
The First TB-303 Record Ever - from 1982

Charanjit Singh - Raga Kalavati

video upload by Royal Smith

"'Raga Kalavati' by Charanjit Singh off the album 'Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat'"

Cognition 303: Bassline Deviations by Various Artists Celebrating the 40-Year History of the TB-303

Also on https://www.clananalogue.org/ where you'll find the release on other platforms including Spotify, Deezer, and Apple Music. Note this release features supporting members of the site!

"Cognition 303: Bassline Deviations celebrates the 40-year history of the TB-303, its status as the last great iconic instrument of electronic music, and explorations of its newest sonic manifestations. The TB-303 has become one of the most used, modified and cloned instruments in electronic music. For Cognition 303 Clan Analogue artists from across Australia heeded the call to create a new selection of sounds exploring all versions of this instrument and its expanding musical lineage.

The Roland TB-303 Bass Line machine was a discarded device of the 1980s, forgotten as shiny digital synths became the industry standard of polished pop and stadium rock. However a new generation in the late 80s and early 90s reclaimed these analogue relics from pawn shops and Trading Post adverts, inspired by the new sounds of techno, house and electronic experimentalism. These young artists became the flagbearers for new musical movements which swept through the 1990s. From this era Clan Analogue was born, Australia’s longest-running and most influential electronic music collective, now celebrating 30 years of underground electronic music activity.

Cognition 303 spans the styles associated with the TB-303 and pushes them into new and unexpected directions. Techno superstar Honeysmack collaborates with T-Rek for one of his famed acid techno bangers. Australian dance music pioneer Andy Rantzen teams up with fellow 303 lover Ryan Spinoglio to give us a stripped-back funk exploration using four TB-303s. Composite Cone and Klaps celebrate the famed Robin Whittle 303 Devilfish modification. Vision Four 5 produce an anthemic piece of stadium techno while KOshowKO channels the legendary Charanjit Singh by blending the 303 with non-Western instruments. Suspect and Factorypreset, two halves of the seminal Dark Network, each create a piece of hypnotic ambient acid house groove - just some of the squelchy masterpieces on Cognition 303.

Download Cognition 303 from Bandcamp for a bonus collection of 14 more Australian 303 tracks from Clan Analogue’s artists, including Bleepin' J Squawkins, Ming One and dyLAB.

released November 15, 2022

Executive Producer: Ryan Spinoglio
Design: James Wingrove
Label support: Nick Wilson
Mastering: Darren Ziesing at Millennium Mastering
Listening panel: Wade Clarke and Martin Koszolko"

Happy New Year From MATRIXSYNTH! - A Look Back at 2015

Happy New Year everyone!  I want to thank you all for a great 2015 and I wish you all the best in 2016!

The following is my yearly round up for the year.  Feel free to dig into this post as much you like, or skip it and leave a comment at the bottom of the post. I'd be curious to hear what stood out for you in 2015. Do you like the direction the synthesizer world is headed in, or would you rather see more or less of any type of product?

CLICK FOR MORE »

The First Roland TB-303 Tracks

An interesting thread came up on the Analog Heaven list regarding the first tracks to feature the TB-303. The following are a handful of them in order of release. Note how the TB-303 is more used in it's original intent as a substitute for bass guitar - no acid here. As Blancmange was the first on this list, I thought I'd put up a picture of them with the 303. I found the image on The Daily Disco. If you know of anything earlier with the TB-303, feel free to comment.

Update: also see Raga Bhairav - 1982 - SYNTHESIZING: TEN RAGAS TO A DISCO BEAT - Charanjit Singh


Blancmange - Living on the Ceiling - Aug 1982

Shannon "Let the Music Play" - Oct 1983


Let Me Go - Heaven 17 - Oct 1982

The First TB-303 Record Ever - from 1982

01 Untitled 1 - First Roland TB-303 Track in History by matrixsynth
via David Bulog http://www.myspace.com/jointhecarcrashset
"This never saw the light of day but thought you may be interested
Within a week of TB-303 being released in New Zealand we went into the studio and decided to make a couple of tracks for a EP that just featured this great machine--just drummcahine + TB-303
recorded at Mandrill---MCI 24 track --Trident desk----AMS reverb
The record company was horrified and refused to put it out"

Or was it CHARANJIT SINGH - Synthesizing: TEN RAGAS TO A DISCO BEAT - india 1982
Thanks to D' Naab 136 for the reminder in the comments.

Bleep's Guide to Electronic Music

This one in via Scott, via Bleep: "Bleep's guide to Electronic Music is a 55 track compilation charting the historical emergence of electronic music by looking at landmark tracks from the 1930s up to present day.

Our aim with this selection of music is to show the length and breadth of the medium, providing a snapshot of the genres forms and styles, and the development of the artform. Whilst there are omissions and compromises that we have had to make, we hope that we achieve our aims and we do some justice to the variety of music that we love.

This compilation developed out of a project to create a Facebook timeline charting the development of electronic music from the late 19th Century until now."

For reference check out 120 Years of Electronic Music

The collection begins with Olivier Messiaen's Oraison from 1937 performed on Ondes Martenot & Theremin (you can find the original full track previously posted here and a beautiful cover on Buchla 200e and Haken Continuum from the late Richard Lainhart here):

"Originally composed by Olivier Messiaen, this beautiful and contemplative piece of music is a monumental moment in electronic music. Argued to be the first piece of purely electronic music written expressly for live performance on the Ondes Martenot, an instrument closely related to the Theremin."

The collection ends with James Blake's CMYK"

"At just 21 years old, London producer, James Blake releases on newly relaunched R&S Records.

At its core 'CMYK' is forged from a myriad of 90's R&B samples (Aaliyah, Kelis) their voices mangled, barely recognisable and thrown into a red-eyed fire of DSP and hours spent in the waveforms."

The full track listing:

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LP Vinyl: Charanjit Singh - Synthesizing Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
via this auction

And here it is in the flesh.

ORIGINAL 1982 INDIAN PRESSING

If you are not familiar with this, see these posts.  Word is this is the first recording to feature a Roland TB-303 and it is acid. Remember, acid house didn't come until later.

Roland Jupiter-8s & TB-303s on the cover.

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