10 Ragas To A Disco Beat
10 Ragas To A Disco Beat
Is an otherwise straightforward throwdown of the Indian Ragas by old skool Bollywood session musician Charanjit Singh.
But straightforward this is not…
In 1982 Charanjit was in the fortunate position to be able to buy/acquire 3 extremely important pieces of analogue hardware released by Roland over the previous couple of years. I would have loved to see the salesman's face light up when he wandered in and ordered the combined package of the TB303, TR808 and a Jupiter 8 that day. Although the Japanese equipment was relatively "affordable" compared to some other hardware of the time.
Charanjit gave his new "toys" a workout in his familiar territory of the Ragas. An Indian classical standard, which should capture the 'mood, soul and season', and can be adapted depending on any way that these experiences are interpreted. (Surely perfect inspiration when sitting down with any musical instrument). These instruments just happened to be the newly launched black and silver satellites of the flagship Jupiter 8 at that time.
This album preempted acid house by accident, and showed how the slide of the 303s "bass player" and the 808s "disco beat" could be interpreted in a new way. It's a great album to go back to, with the frequencies pulsing in and out with each other and arpeggios merging with the groove. It makes me imagine a vibrant, colourful rave at an Indian palace.
The album wasn't really well received on release, but has become a cult recording since being "unearthed" in more recent times.
Written by Chris Conway