Electronication: Ragas and the Future
What more is better than listening to music and later on getting into a discursive conversation with its composers to better understand the transformative power of high-energy music. CIS is pleased to invite you to an evening conference followed by a concert by Charanjit Singh, Samrat B. and Imaad Shah playing improvised versions of Charanjit Singh's “Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat”.
About the Music
In 1982, seasoned Bollywood composer and arranger Charanjit Singh visited Singapore and got his hands on the now holy trinity of a Roland 303, 808, and Jupiter 8 - the core of acid house and the gear that forged the genesis of electronic dance music as we know it today.
Later that year, EMI India releases an album limited to a few thousand copies: "Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to A Disco Beat". It presents Charanjit's effort at using what was then an entirely new technology to bridge the gap between programmed beats, synth lines, and classical Indian music motifs.
It essentially sinks without a trace.
In 2008, Dutch label Bollywood Connection re-released this LP to an unsuspecting and wholly ignorant public, convinced that these beats were established in the clubs of Chicago and Detroit in 1986, except they never were.
Since the re-release, this album has been raising eyebrows worldwide.
About the Musicians
Charanjit Singh is a seasoned Bollywood composer and arranger who lives in Bombay. We recently met him, and we are now working with him to bring his work back into the twenty-first century and into the public eye, where it belongs. On March 6, he will give a performance from this landmark album for the first time in nearly 30 years.
Samrat B. performs under the name Teddy Boy Kill along with another musician. Streaming from continuous transmutation of music & audio-emotive desires, the sound of Teddy Boy Kill stems out of Psychedelic, Dub, Electro, Rock & Funk. The music is an attempt to revive the dance & groove mentality.
Imaad Shah is a musician, writer, and actor based in Mumbai. An avid enthusiast of music and pop history, he has dug deep into the Bollywood sound culture and is part of Pulp Society, a funk jazz act from Mumbai.
Event details
When
from 11:30 AM to 04:30 PM
