How a Bollywood musician accidentally invented a new genre of music | #180
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Hello friends
Back in Issue #150 we wrote a primer for Indian hip-hop - a genre that’s grown from strength to strength in the recent past.
In today’s issue we’re going to look at the fascinating history and origins of electronic music in India. This issue also comes with some homework. Listen to the music linked in today’s edition and let us know what you think. Untz untz untz 🎧
Things we learnt this week 🤓
Musician Paul Purgas discovered a dusty box of tapes in a cupboard in Ahmedabad which unraveled the little-known history of Indian electronic music. In 1968, the Sarabhai family arranged for India’s first Moog Synthesizer to be installed at the National Institute of Design. The setup of the synthesizer in a studio was overseen by American experimentalist David Tudor who stayed and taught at the Institute on a 3 month residency. On a night in 1969, NID organized Soundscape, an on-campus light and sound event that 20,000 people attended. It was the sound of composers (including Tudor, and Gita Sarabhai) experimenting with the sound of the future. This along with other recordings from the same time period were recently released in a compilation titled The NID Tapes: Electronic Music From India 1969-1972. Check it out for yourself
Tudor’s kingly pose 
Tudor’s Moog, photographed in Ahemdabad Acid House is a subgenre of house music that was invented by Chicago DJ ‘Phuture’ in 1987…or was it? Back in 1982, a sessions Bollywood musician named Charanjit Singh bought a Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthesizer-sequencer on a trip to Singapore. Inspired equally by classical music and the disco stylings of Bappi Lahiri, he cut an album in just two days called ‘Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat’ that featured Hindustani ragas set to a (you guessed it!) disco beat. As you would expect, this experimental album faded into obscurity quickly as Charanjit continued his Bollywood career. In 2002, a Dutch DJ Edo Bouman encountered the album during a visit to Delhi, and was blown away by the sound. He was shocked to hear that the Acid House sound in the album preceded the birth of the genre by a full FIVE years! Charanjit Singh had accidentally invented a new sub-genre of music. The album was re-released in 2010 to acclaim and Singh even toured the world playing the album live, until his death in 2015. Check out the trippy album and tell us what you think of it.
Exactly what you imagine when someone says “acid house inventor” What connects ‘Video Killed the Radio Star' - the song that launched MTV, with classic Bollywood songs such as ‘Disco Deewane’ and ‘Aap Jaisa Koi’?
Answer: The highly-influential music producer Biddu. Born in Bangalore, he moved to England and started a career as a music producer. While experimenting with electronic and Hi-NRG (yes, that’s a subgenre!) disco he influenced two of his former session musicians Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes who went on to form the new-wave band ‘The Buggles’. Their hit ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ was chosen to be the first song premiered on MTV, back in 1981. He would also produce music for Nazia Hasan including the popular disco Bollywood hits mentioned above. Not to mention producing Carl Douglas ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ one of the best-selling singles of all time! He also had success producing music for Japanese and Chinese artists. How was he so prolific? A biddu much, if you ask us.
From IWTK, with love 💌
Did you know that former India fast bowler Javagal Srinath is really into Tupac Shakur? Know more here.
FAANG or MANGA is passe. Have you heard of BHARAT, HRITIK or SALMAN stocks?
Only In India 🇮🇳
The Dog ate my homework. The candidate ate the votes.
Stay hydrated,
❤️ IWTK