09/09/2026
before acid house had a name, charanjit singh was already making something that sounded remarkably like its future.
in 1982, the mumbai composer and bollywood session musician recorded Synthesizing: Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat, bringing indian classical ragas into conversation with three then-new pieces of roland gear: the TB-303 bass synth, TR-808 drum machine and Jupiter-8. the same 303 + 808 combination would become fundamental to the sound of acid house years later.
singh’s intention was beautifully literal: take ten ragas and put them to a disco beat. recorded in just two days, the album largely disappeared after its release, before being rediscovered decades later and recognised for just how far ahead of its time it sounded.
it’s an incredible reminder that the histories we inherit around electronic music are rarely as geographically neat as we imagine.
ten ragas to a disco beat has now been newly remastered and reissued by Light in the Attic in cooperation with charanjit singh’s estate.
