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By chance the machines Singh bought were exactly the synths that would define the sound of electronic dance some years later. The beat he synthesized with the Roland TR-808; the bass-lines he programmed with a Roland TB-303, the synth that some 5 years later would create the sound of acid house. Last but not least, he used the Roland Jupiter-8 keyboard, with which he generated psychedelic melody patterns and improvised the melodies of the ragas. With its restrained minimalism and lack of cheesiness it is hard to believe Singh recorded and issued it in 1982. All that is essential to house is there: the hypnotic beat, the mesmerizing melodies. And the sound of the Roland synths give it that House sound and feel that some years later would captivate the world’s dance floors. On top of that the LP makes a consistent listen: all ten tracks are equally good, minimal and captivating. Back then, the LP was far too experimental for Indian standards. Pressed quantities were tiny, and it took some 25 years before a few surviving copies emerged from the vast Indian subcontinent. Hearing the LP Re-released now, after almost 30 years, is an almost unreal experience. Not only was it way ahead of its time, but also today sounds animated, fluid and unabashedly alive. Singh set out to translate centuries old Indian ragas to the synthesizer, and invented house and acid house along the way, respectively 3 and 5 years before the first records in those genres were released in the West. |
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