TEN RAGAS TO A DISCO BEAT

Being in a new city, walking around without plans is my favourite way of exploring. Yesterday I found something I didn’t expected but that somehow was exactly what I wanted.

I’m currently in Singapore, at a first glance – a city of new money, skyscrapes and housewifes.
Of course, there’s more to the city than that, but it’s kind of hidden behind all the European luxury brands. So, to search for some cultural findings from the Asian uterus of capitalism, I took the metro to the station “Little India”. It’s basically like an Indian Chinatown and definitely worth visiting. After two blocks I suddenly heard the sound of a drummachine somewhere in the middle of the sound of delivery-trucks and all the streets restaurants. From a small record shop you could hear hi-tempo jackin house rhythms! I started moving towards the shop and then suddenly an acid baseline kicked in. What I didn’t know then was that I was listening to what probably is the one of the first acid house record ever made. The guy in the record shop playing the music from his iPod then explained to be that the music wasn’t from Detroit or anywhere else in the US which I would have thought – this was actually from India! I immediately rushed home to have a listen and try to get into this somewhat unexpected world of early Indian acid house. And it was truly fantastic!

The record is called “TEN RAGAS TO A DISCO BEAT” and is made by Bollywood musician Charanjit Singh. He bought the now classic TB303-synth and TR-808 drummachine and recorded this piece of music history in 1982. Only a small amount of the record was distributed though, and it was probably way ahead of it’s time. Take off the melodies coming from Indian folklore and you will have that typical mid-eighties acid sound but what really is unique is the mix of it all together.

“TEN RAGAS TO A DISCO BEAT” is now re-issued by Bombay-Connection records and currently available as Vinyl and MP3.

LINKS: www.bombay-connection.com

//Jens Andersson

By mads on May 12th, 2010 | Music, Travel