Charanjit Singh’s Synthesizer: Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat is a bit of an oddity – a collection of electronic takes on classic Indian ragas.
The album, originally recorded in 1982, was an obscure curiosity until 2010, when it was rereleased – and hailed by some as the first ever acid house record. It predates Phuture’s Acid Trax – considered by many to be the seminal acid house track – by five years, but has many similarities to later acid tracks.
Much of the sound of Ten Ragas comes from three Roland instruments: the Jupiter-8 synthesizer, the TB-303 bassline synth and the TR-808 drum machine – staples of acid house. The same instruments became core elements in the acid toolkit.
To Singh, Ten Ragas was a disco take on Indian classical music – and the result is an interesting pioneering electronic album. But to modern ears, the result sounds like it is of a later era.
Which begs the question: was the classic acid house sound of Ten Ragas an inevitable result of Roland’s 303/808 instruments or was Singh’s album half a decade ahead of its time?
Let us know what you think in the comments!
via aymat
I only think that this renewed interested in acid-whatever music would work bettere, if accompanied by an actual renewed interest in acid itself.
I’ve been saying this for time. ha
Nice, good history to know and to acknowledge artists that were ahead of their time.
Agreed! It is great to get these glimpses into music history, especially when they mess with your assumptions.
Just last week I learned that Throbbing Gristle frontman Genesis P-Orridge claims to have come up with the phrase “Acid House,” though this is disputed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_house#Etymology
this is pretty good
btw, once upon a time in the 90s there was a CD i always saw in music stores that was so interesting… on the cover it said “What is Bhangra?” and had a picture of some indian dude in a turban and half his face was all cybernetic like the terminator… so one day i bought it and discovered exactly what bhangra is
true story!
It’s a great album to have. I first read about it and heard a track on dustedmagazine.com. The wikipedia article on Charanjit Singh provides a more complete account – worth reading if you are into making music.
I think it would be more accurate to say that Singh’s work was a precursor to Goa Trance then Psychedelic Trance (Psytrance). THe Raga structure is still utilized in these genres of music to this day. The “sound” is the same as Acid House, however the structure is clearly in Hindi/Arabic scales.
Raga used the 303 in the right way, by following the manual. He made a bass pattern, does not even tweak the 303 what should make that acid sound like we know the name from.
“Was the classic acid house sound of Ten Ragas an inevitable result of Roland’s 303/808 instruments”
Yes, because its among the very simplest uses of electronic gear, so naturally, a majority will always go for the easiest path. Electronic music contains a lot of stagnation because people don’t fully explore the 2nd, 3rd and 10th layers of what their synths can emit. Playing WITH the clock has an honorable tradition, but playing against it is more like actual Art and Fun. E-music needs a better sense of tension and release and a drop-out break in the middle of a 12-minute loop doesn’t really fulfill that need.
“or was Singh’s album half a decade ahead of its time?”
Yes and no. It wasn’t necessarily “ahead,” because a steady beat has always been a nice staple of the more upbeat ragas. (Its un-American not to love the tabla, ahem.) Being the first to mesh two disparate things makes you the first, not necessarily the best. If I listen with 80s ears, yes, its a creditable, fun work, due regard there. However, this was released in 1982 and half of what I hear today sounds far too much like it. Where’s some GROWTH, eh? I’m not arrogant enough to stomp a foot and say it SHOULD have gone here or there, but I hunger for more complexity so I have something to chew on. There’s plenty of great ambient, but where are the harmonically-challenging bits and the hummable tunes that don’t loop for 48 bars?
That said, I maded a disco on purpose, just to play against its every convention. It turned out to be a fun challenge, so never totally reject a style or you can miss the great nuggets many contain, but try playing in F# once in a while, too. Zigs are fun, but good zags are what define the best work. Damn, much more of this and I’m going to need some Minions.:P
Not really acid, just a tb bassline and a straight beat, in that respect i’m not sure he’s the first.
the glides on the tb notes can mislead you into thinking it acid but it lacks the necessary knob twiddling of resonance and decay to have the real acid effect.
i think the earliest acid i heard but it wasn’t tb303 is from psychic tv.
Well it’s a 303 but I don’t count this as Acid House. This is the approach of an old school synthesist, using a synthesiser to emulate a real instrument. What made Acid House different was that people weren’t trying to emulate real instruments.
To me it sounds a lot like early goa trance/psychedelic trance. Also a bit like acid, but if I would listen to that without knowing about who made it and when it was made, I would think it is early goa trance.
This isn’t twisted or funked up enough to get the attention of those who love acid house .
We are future!!!
The guy that thought this sounded like acid house doesn’t know shit about acid house!
I like this a lot – but acid house was about how the baseline changed as you tweaked a 303. This doesn’t seem to do that at all.
Calling this acid house is like saying ELP sounds like Switched On Bach – only accurate in the most superficial way.
This is goa!
I love this album. The basslines are great; I try to emulate them, but I always get sidetracked and make something else. Not acid-house, but maybe proto-acid or proto-goa.
Few years ago I came across to this album. I thought this is too ahead of time and found some guys telling that it is fake from 90s. Just saying.
i pay big respect to this album …. and its always twist a dancefloor when you throw the teen ragas to a disco beat bone!!!!!!
check out this nice interwiev
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT64B6vs9Mc
Some background: http://reproduceartists.com/charanjitsingh/about
The very first acid house music was already created in 1951! It was the sound track of the British sci-fi movie “The Man in the White Suit”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_White_Suit
Although not made with TB-303, the sound effect was absolutely obvious. In 1980th before Phuture also Eno – Moebius – Rodelius – Plank made some “new age” music (e.g. “Speed Display”, “Broken Head”) that sounded seriously acid-like.