Charanjit Singh (musician)
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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" (fo ...
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 o ...
orchestras from the 1960s to 1980s, working with '' filmi'' composers such as Shankar-Jaikishan,
R.D. Burman Rahul Dev Burman (27 June 1939 – 4 January 1994) was an Indian music director who is considered one of the most influential composers of India. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Burman composed musical scores for 331 films. Burman did major work ...
,
S.D. Burman Sachin Dev Burman (1 October 1906 – 31 October 1975) was an Indian music director and singer. A member of the Tripura royal family, he started his career with Bengali films in 1937. He later began composing for Hindi movies and became one o ...
, 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 instru ...
elevator music, some of which have since been re-released by
Sublime Frequencies Sublime Frequencies is a record label based in Seattle, Washington that focuses exclusively on "acquiring and exposing obscure sights and sounds from modern and traditional urban and rural frontiers," mostly from Southeast Asia, North Africa and We ...
, 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 conve ...
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 anothe ...
'' in 1973 and " Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne" from ''
Yaadon Ki Baaraat ''Yaadon Ki Baaraat'' () is a 1973 Indian Hindi-language masala film, directed by Nasir Hussain and written by Salim–Javed (Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar). It featured an ensemble cast, starring Dharmendra, Vijay Arora, Tariq, Zeenat Aman, Nee ...
'' 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 ''khil ...
'' 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 pia ...
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 electronic calypso record, ''Experiments in Calypso''. His son
Raju Singh Raju Singh (Full name: Rajinder Singh Panesar) is an Indian film score composer, session musician, singer and a guitarist. His first collaboration was with Malkit Singh of Hai Jamalo fame. Together with Adesh Srivastav they released an album c ...
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 possib ...
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 second- ...
.


''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 pia ...
music with
Indian classical Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music known as '' Hindustani'' and the South Indian expression known as '' Carnatic''. These traditions were not ...
raga A ''raga'' or ''raag'' (; also ''raaga'' or ''ragam''; ) is a melodic framework for improvisation in Indian classical music akin to a musical mode, melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradit ...
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 Smith Jr., 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 ...
's seminal Chicago acid house record " Acid Tracks" (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 Phuture 303 was an acid house music group founded in 1996 by DJ Spank Spank. Its members included Roy Davis Jr., Damon Neloms (a.k.a. Professor Trax), L.A. Williams, Ron Maney a.k.a. DJ Skull and Rio "The Musician" Lee. Phuture 303 released sever ...
, 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 music, electronic styles such as techno, ambient music, ambient, and jun ...
. 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 ...
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 fact ...
: the
Jupiter-8 The Jupiter-8, or JP-8, is an eight-voice polyphonic analog subtractive synthesizer introduced by Roland Corporation in early 1981. The Jupiter-8 was Roland's flagship synthesizer for the first half of the 1980s. Approximately 3300 units have ...
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 co ...
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 musical mode, melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradit ...
melodies. Besides
Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...
raga music, he also took inspiration from contemporary Bollywood music, or filmi music, specifically the Indian electronic disco scene that had only just become popular in the early 1980s (sparked by the success of
Pakistani pop Pakistani popular music or shortly Pakistani pop music refers to popular music forms in Pakistan. Pakistani pop is a mixture of traditional Pakistani classical music and western influences of jazz, rock and roll, hip hop and disco sung in vario ...
singer
Nazia Hassan Nazia Hassan (3 April 1965 – 13 August 2000) was a Pakistani singer-songwriter, lawyer and social activist. Referred to as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of South Asian pop, she is considered one of the most influential singe ...
and Indian producer Biddu), at a time when disco's popularity had declined in the United States. In parallel to the Euro disco 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 Rahul Dev Burman (27 June 1939 – 4 January 1994) was an Indian music director who is considered one of the most influential composers of India. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Burman composed musical scores for 331 films. Burman did major work ...
's " Dil Lena Khel Hai Dildar Ka" (''
Zamane Ko Dikhana Hai ''Zamaane Ko Dikhana Hai'' (translation: ''Show The World'') is a 1981 Indian Hindi romantic thriller film produced and directed by Nasir Hussain. It stars Rishi Kapoor, Padmini Kolhapure, Yogeeta Bali, Amjad Khan, Kader Khan, Shreeram Lagoo ...
'', 1981) which had a "futuristic electro feel" and Bappi Lahari's " Yaad Aa Raha Hai" ('' Disco Dancer'', 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 cal ...
" 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 Saregama India Ltd. (Saregama refers to the first four notes of the Indian musical scale); formerly known as The Gramophone Company Of India Ltd. is India's oldest music label owned by the RP- Sanjiv Goenka Group of companies. The company i ...
(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 a ...
'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 ''Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki'' () is a 1984 Indian Hindi-language masala film produced and directed by Babbar Subhash, starring Mithun Chakraborty (in double role), Smita Patil, Salma Agha, Karan Razdan, Geeta Siddharth and Amrish Puri. It was r ...
" 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 a ...
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 musical mode, melodic mode. The ''rāga'' is a unique and central feature of the classical Indian music tradit ...
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 Yaman (also known as kalyaan, Iman, Aiman,'Eman', ' Kalyani' in Carnatic classical music) is a heptatonic ( Sampurna) Indian classical raga of Kalyan Thaat. Its signature phrase (Pakad) is ni-Re-Ga-/Re-Ga/ni-Re-Sa/Pa-Ma#-Ga-Re/ni-Re-Sa' (Ma i ...
" – 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 over ...
*
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 LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, mescaline, and cannabis to ...
*
Raga rock Raga rock is Rock music, rock or pop music with a pronounced Music of India, 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 ...


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