Charanjit Singh (1940 – 5 July 2015) was an Indian musician from Mumbai, who performed as a
session musician
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
,
often as a guitarist or synthesizer player, in numerous
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (f ...
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...
orchestras from the 1960s to 1980s,
working with ''
filmi
Filmi ("of films") music soundtracks are music produced for India's mainstream motion picture industry and written and performed for Indian cinema. In cinema, music directors make up the main body of composers; the songs are performed by playba ...
'' composers such as
Shankar-Jaikishan,
R.D. Burman,
S.D. Burman, and
Laxmikant–Pyarelal
Laxmikant–Pyarelal were an Indian composer duo, consisting of Laxmikant Shantaram Patil Kudalkar (1937–1998) and Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma (born 1940). He is known by the nickname “Pyromaniac” due to his flaming style of music.
Laxmikan ...
.
In the 21st century, Singh became known for his 1983 album ''
Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat'' following retrospective associations with
acid house
Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthesiz ...
, both of which prominently feature the
Roland TB-303
The Roland TB-303 Bass Line (also known as the 303) is a bass synthesizer released by Roland Corporation in 1981. Designed to simulate bass guitars, it was a commercial failure and was discontinued in 1984. However, cheap second-hand units were ...
.
It received re-release in 2010 on the Bombay Connection label.
Biography
Singh led a wedding band and recorded and released a number of albums
covering popular
film songs.
These were a form of
instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instr ...
elevator music
Elevator music (also known as Muzak, piped music, or lift music) is a type of background music played in rooms where many people come together (that is, with no intention whatsoever to listen to music), and during telephone calls when placed on ...
, some of which have since been re-released by
Sublime Frequencies, such as his
steel guitar
A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conv ...
renditions of "Manje Re" from ''
Bandhe Haath
''Bandhe Hath'' ( en, Tied Hands) is a 1973 Hindi-language film produced and written by O. P. Ralhan. It stars Amitabh Bachchan, Mumtaz in lead roles, with Ajit, Ranjeet, Madan Puri, Asit Sen, O. P. Ralhan, Tun Tun, Pinchoo Kapoor in anot ...
'' in 1973 and "
Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne" from ''
Yaadon Ki Baaraat'' in 1975. In 1981, he produced synthesizer-based
electronic renditions of the ''
Silsila
Silsila ( ar, سِلْسِلَة) is an Arabic word meaning ''chain'', ''link'', ''connection'' often used in various senses of lineage. In particular, it may be translated as "spiritual genealogy" where one Sufi Master transfers his ''khi ...
'' soundtrack in his record ''Charanjit Singh: Plays Hit Tunes on Synthesizer of Silsila''.
''Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat'', an album of original electronic
disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pi ...
compositions Singh recorded in 1982, was a commercial failure at the time of its original release, but its re-discovery in 2002 and re-issue in early 2010 garnered attention due to comparisons with
acid house
Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthesiz ...
from the mid to late 1980s.
Since then, certain commentators in the
music press
Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
have recast Singh as an originator of acid
house music
House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...
.
He also used the same
drum machine and synthesizers for his
experimental
An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...
electronic
calypso record, ''Experiments in Calypso''.
His son
Raju Singh is a composer, who has scored for films and television shows.
Charanjit Singh died of
cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and poss ...
in his sleep during the midnight of 4 July 2015 at his home in
Bandra
Bandra (Indian English, æːɳɖɾa also known as Vandre (Help:IPA/Marathi, �aːn̪d̪ɾe is an upscale coastal suburb located in Mumbai (Bombay) area of the Konkan division, Maharashtra, India. The suburb is located to the immediate nor ...
,
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the '' de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...
.
''Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat''
In the 21st century, Charanjit Singh gained attention for his 1982 release ''Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat'', an album originally intended as a
fusion of
electronic disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pi ...
music with
Indian classical raga
A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradition, and as ...
s. Singh's use of both the
TR-808 drum machine and
TB-303
The Roland TB-303 Bass Line (also known as the 303) is a bass synthesizer released by Roland Corporation in 1981. Designed to simulate bass guitars, it was a commercial failure and was discontinued in 1984. However, cheap second-hand units were ...
bass synthesizer has led some music journalists to suggest that it is perhaps the earliest example of
acid house
Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthesiz ...
music; predating
Phuture
Phuture is an American house music group from Chicago, founded in 1985 by Earl "Spanky" Smith Jr., Nathaniel Pierre Jones aka DJ Pierre, and Herbert "Herb J" Jackson. The group is famous for inventing and defining the sound of acid house, a subge ...
's seminal
Chicago acid house record "
Acid Tracks
"Acid Tracks" is a 1987 acid house song by Phuture produced by Marshall Jefferson and released by Trax Records. Phuture consisted of Nathan Pierre Jones, better known as DJ Pierre, Earl Smith Jr (known as "Spanky"), and Herbert Jackson. Jones ...
" (1987) by five years.
Comparisons have also been made with the work of other
electronic dance musicians who were inspired by acid house such as
Ceephax,
Phuture 303, and
Aphex Twin
Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), best known as Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born British musician, composer and DJ. He is known for his idiosyncratic work in electronic styles such as techno, ambient, and jungle. Journalists from publicati ...
. According to ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' writer Stuart Aitken, Singh's record was "far ahead" of its time.
Production
Singh produced ''Ten Ragas'' using three
electronic musical instrument
An electronic musical instrument or electrophone is a musical instrument that produces sound using electronic circuitry. Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical, electronic or digital audio signal that ultimately is plugged into a ...
s made by the
Roland Corporation
is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment, and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on 18 April 1972. In 2005, its headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. It has fac ...
: the
Jupiter-8 synthesizer, Roland TR-808, and Roland TB-303.
It was one of the first records to use the TB-303, a machine that has become synonymous with acid house. Singh had bought his TB-303 in Singapore soon after its introduction in late 1981. He didn't know much about the three machines at first, so he spent much time in figuring out how to use them, and eventually discovered that it was possible to synchronise the TR-808 and TB-303 with the Jupiter-8 keyboard. According to Singh: "At home I practised with the combination and I thought 'It sounds good – why not record it'."
While the TB-303 was originally designed to fill in for a bass guitar, it was awkward when it came to reproducing conventional basslines, so he found a different way to employ the machine, particularly its
glissando
In music, a glissando (; plural: ''glissandi'', abbreviated ''gliss.'') is a glide from one pitch to another (). It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French ''glisser'', "to glide". In some contexts, it is distinguished from the ...
function which made it suitable for reproducing the Indian
raga
A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradition, and as ...
melodies.
Besides
Indian raga music, he also took inspiration from contemporary
Bollywood music
Hindi film songs, more formally known as Hindi Geet or filmi songs and informally known as Bollywood music, are songs featured in Hindi films. Derived from the song-and-dance routines common in Indian films, Bollywood songs, along with danc ...
, or
filmi
Filmi ("of films") music soundtracks are music produced for India's mainstream motion picture industry and written and performed for Indian cinema. In cinema, music directors make up the main body of composers; the songs are performed by playba ...
music, specifically the Indian electronic disco scene that had only just become popular in the early 1980s (sparked by the success of
Pakistani pop singer
Nazia Hassan
Nazia Hassan (3 April 1965 – 13 August 2000) was a Pakistani singer-songwriter, lawyer and social activist. Referred to as the Queen of South Asian pop, she is considered one of the most influential singers in the subcontinent. Starting in ...
and Indian producer
Biddu
Biddu Appaiah (born 8 February 1944) is a British-Indian singer-songwriter, composer, and music producer who composed and produced many worldwide hit records during a career spanning five decades. Considered one of the pioneers of disco, Euro ...
), at a time when disco's popularity had declined in the United States. In parallel to the
Euro disco
Eurodisco (also spelled as Euro disco) is the variety of European forms of electronic dance music that evolved from disco in the late 1970s, incorporating elements of pop and rock into a disco-like continuous dance atmosphere. Many Eurodisco ...
scene at the time, the continued relevance of disco in India and the increasing reliance on synthesizers led to experiments in
minimalist
In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...
,
high-tempo, electronic disco, such as
R.D. Burman's "
Dil Lena Khel Hai Dildar Ka" (''
Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai'', 1981) which had a "futuristic
electro feel" and
Bappi Lahari's "
Yaad Aa Raha Hai" (''
Disco Dancer
''Disco Dancer'' is a 1982 Indian dance film, written by Rahi Masoom Raza and directed by Babbar Subhash. It stars Mithun Chakraborty and Kim in leading roles, with Om Puri, Gita Siddharth and Karan Razdan in supporting roles with Rajesh Kh ...
'', 1982). Such developments eventually culminated in the work of Singh, who increased the
tempo
In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...
and made the sounds more minimalistic, while pairing them with instrumental Indian ragas using his new equipment setup.
According to Singh: "There was lots of disco music in films back in 1982. 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
A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...
. And I did it. And it turned out good."
The first track "
Raga Bhairavi" also features a
synthesised voice that says "
Om Namah Shivaya
Om Namah Shivaya (Devanagari: ; IAST: Om Namaḥ Śivāya) is one of the most popular Hindu mantras and the most important mantra in Shaivism. Namah Shivaya means "O salutations to the auspicious one!", or “adoration to Lord Shiva". It is ca ...
" through a
vocoder
A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation.
The vocoder was ...
.
Release
The album was released under the label
Gramophone Company of India[ (1983 LP)] (now Sa Re Ga Ma), having been recorded at their
HMV Studio in Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1982.
[ (2010 CD)] Following the
LP record
The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and ...
's release in 1982,
it garnered some interest in India, finding its way onto
Indian national radio, but it became a commercial failure and was largely forgotten until recent years.
However, Singh may have played a role in popularising electronic music in Bollywood at the time, and a somewhat similar "techno-sounding interlude" had later appeared in Lahiri's song "
Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki" from the film of the same name in 1984.
Live performance
From 2012 until his death in 2015, Singh performed the material from ''Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat'' live.
Track listing
Both the original 1982
and 1983
LP record
The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and ...
s and the 2010 CD
and LP
[ (2010 LP)] re-releases contain the following five-minute-long tracks named after
raga
A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradition, and as ...
s:
#"
Raga Bhairavi" – 4:59
#"
Raga Lalit" – 4:55
#"
Raga Bhupali" – 4:53
#"
Raga Todi" – 4:52
#"
Raga Madhuvanti" – 4:59
#"
Raga Meghmalhar" – 5:01
#"
Raga Yaman" – 5:06
#"
Raga Kalavati" – 5:08
#"
Raga Malkauns" – 5:02
#"
Raga Bairagi" – 5:07
See also
*
Goa trance
Goa trance is an electronic dance music style that originated in the early 1990s in the Indian state of Goa. Goa trance often has drone-like basslines, similar to the techno minimalism of 21st century psychedelic trance (psytrance). Psychedelic ...
*
House music
House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...
*
Indi-pop
Indian pop music, also known as Indi-pop, refers to pop music produced in India that is independent from filmi soundtracks for Indian cinema, such as the music of Bollywood, which tends to be more popular. Indian pop is closely linked to Bollywo ...
*
Music of India
Owing to India's vastness and diversity, Indian music encompasses numerous genres in multiple varieties and forms which include classical music, folk ( Bollywood), rock, and pop. It has a history spanning several millennia and developed ov ...
*
Psychedelic music
Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, ...
*
Raga rock
Raga rock is rock or pop music with a pronounced Indian influence, either in its construction, its timbre, or its use of Indian musical instruments, such as the sitar and tabla. In addition, rock music from the 1960s and 1970s that incorporat ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Charanjit
Musicians from Mumbai
Indian male classical musicians
Acid house musicians
House musicians
Disco musicians
Techno musicians
2015 deaths
1940 births
20th-century Indian male musicians