Charanjit Singh, Pioneering Composer of Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat has Died

[Adieu]

The pioneering musician passed away at his home in Mumbai on Sunday, July 3. Singh was a cult figure in the music world following the rediscovery and re-release of his 1982 album Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat in the 2000s.

 

http://www.factmag.com/2015/07/06/acid-house-pioneer-charanjit-singh-dies-aged-75/

 

http://www.discogs.com/Charanjit-Singh-Synthesizing-Ten-Ragas-To-A-Disco-Beat/release/2108668

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=conwt8Dy27Y&list=PL92EAAE3CD9D40C57

 

 

RIP

[Muflontillah]

RIP

[Herr Jan]

I was always a bit cautious with his sudden sole credit of inventing acid house. Like Fact Magazine's write-up today:

 

Singh was an unwitting pioneer of acid house music, credited with inventing the squelchy sounds that would come to signify the Chicago acid house sound in the years to come.

 

He definitely is a pioneer, but people seem to forget Chris & Cosey recorded this track in 1982 as well (released in 1984, Chris Carter was one of the first people in the UK to own a 303) that was actually proto-acid house sounding. Then you had the Heaven 17 track, also released in 1982. Italo deserves as much credit too as they were a direct influence on the actual Chicago acid house pioneers.

 

Charanjit seemed to be lucky afterwards that he just picked this particular setup containing (at that time) brand new equipment for his Ragas. He also used his 303 quite traditionally, not in the same trademark crazy way Phuture used it. In the context of what was going on India in disco music at that time he also wasn't that far out, besides having the tempo pushed up.

What makes him a pioneer is that he saw potential in that particular setup in the early days (although not a concious decision, it was just a new product that he bought off the shelf in Singapore, not even rare too), mostly isolated from a lot of those scenes (although he was definitely in the know about disco). Besides that it is just an incredibly cool album that is one of the first that uses a 303. But he really wasn't on the only one experimenting with it in 1982 and he didn't influence anyone in the early acid house days as it was a complete flop upon release.

 

Glad he got to enjoy some moments of fame in his last years anyway, he seemed to enjoy it:

RIP

[cwmbrancity]

Severed Heads are in the mix with contenders for proto-house thump fests, some sublime rhythm heavy synth funk

 

Used to rinse "Raga Kalavati", if you pitch it down to -8 or lower again on some belt drives this beast opens up into swing yer pants rapture

 

[th555]

When this suddenly got hyped there were even people saying it was all a hoax..

[Guest bitroast]

 

 

RIP

 

hooooooly shittttttt!!

had no idea. that's awesome.

[joshuatxuk]

When this suddenly got hyped there were even people saying it was all a hoax..

 

I suppose that was during other "discovered" album hoaxes like Jürgen Müller and Ursula Bogner. Like Herr Jan pointed out, he wasn't actively or intentionally pioneering the genre of acid house, he just happened to produce the same sound with the 303 in his own parallel experimentation as a soundtrack producer in India. His groundbreaking work was an once unknown and subsequently fascinating coincidence.

 

At 75, not quite untimely but still a shame that he passed away right before a big tour that was in the works. It's cool he got recognition years before he passed too, often these kind of musical gems are recognized posthumously.

[NI64]

Whoa, thats freaky. I just bought a copy of the Ten Ragas reissue not even 12 hours ago...

[awepittance]

RIP

anybody manage to find or download any of his other electronic disco stuff?

i found an LP of something thats not on discogs which sound a lot cheesier (meaning just more typical of what youd expect from the era) than 10 ragas but is just as electronic

[Leon Sumbitches]

Damn, I only heard of Ten Ragas for the first time like two days ago when I went on an educate-myself-about-acid-house binge. Strange coincidences. Raga In Peace.

[cwmbrancity]

the next time someone mentions or posts some fuckin awful 160bpm trance/fluro/Goa wank, please direct them to these sounds pronto

 

 

 

 

RIP

 

 

 

 

RIP

 

[Gordon]

I was always a bit cautious with his sudden sole credit of inventing acid house. Like Fact Magazine's write-up today:

 

Singh was an unwitting pioneer of acid house music, credited with inventing the squelchy sounds that would come to signify the Chicago acid house sound in the years to come.

 

He definitely is a pioneer, but people seem to forget Chris & Cosey recorded this track in 1982 as well (released in 1984, Chris Carter was one of the first people in the UK to own a 303) that was actually proto-acid house sounding. Then you had the Heaven 17 track, also released in 1982. Italo deserves as much credit too as they were a direct influence on the actual Chicago acid house pioneers.

 

Charanjit seemed to be lucky afterwards that he just picked this particular setup containing (at that time) brand new equipment for his Ragas. He also used his 303 quite traditionally, not in the same trademark crazy way Phuture used it. In the context of what was going on India in disco music at that time he also wasn't that far out, besides having the tempo pushed up.

 

What makes him a pioneer is that he saw potential in that particular setup in the early days (although not a concious decision, it was just a new product that he bought off the shelf in Singapore, not even rare too), mostly isolated from a lot of those scenes (although he was definitely in the know about disco). Besides that it is just an incredibly cool album that is one of the first that uses a 303. But he really wasn't on the only one experimenting with it in 1982 and he didn't influence anyone in the early acid house days as it was a complete flop upon release.

 

Glad he got to enjoy some moments of fame in his last years anyway, he seemed to enjoy it:

 

 

 

RIP

would of loved to of been in amsterdam when this was on, an amazing city, that would of just made it truly awesome

[vertsk8er419]

rest in beats. om

[th555]

That was in amsterdam? fuck

[Cheladrix]

Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat stands out as an excellent record because of Charanjit Singh's excellent musical ability as a keyboardist paired with a lot of creativity. Yeah, it has a 303, 808 and a Jupiter 8 (so fierce), that's cool, but it's not about the brand of synths used, it's what he does with them. It's not acid house, it's acid disco raga, a one album music genre that no one else got into at the time. There's those little disco flourishes, the amazing vocoder bits and the best arpeggiator usage to date.

 

The similarities with acid house are fun, but this album would still be a classic even if house never happened. Heh, it took me forever to find where the heck I put this cd, but I finally found it, thankfully. This album really does sound better every time I hear it.

 

People are discovering supposed lost classics all the time, but Ten Ragas is the real deal. Forget about acid house, this album stands alone in it's own right. I'm glad people started appreciating this record while he was around, of course he did pretty good as a musician besides this album. I bet if his Bollywood stuff ever gets reissued it's going to get sampled by everybody in hip hop.

[NI64]

It's especially interesting to listen to Ten Ragas from an Indian music background (Classically trained sitarist for 8+ years now), because really the only innovations at all are the drums and basslines. The progession and melodic development are 100% by-the-book raga form (I'm familiar with playing about half the album so I can only truly speak for those). I would love to hear recordings of him performing other classical Indian music, on keyboard or whatever else. He definitely has the chops for it.

[drillkicker]

I never got into that album. I love raga, but it just doesn't go well with disco.