Light in the Attic Reissues Charanjit Singh’s Acid House Classic Synthesizing
Light in the Attic is reissuing Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat by Charanjit Singh, according to recent reporting from NPR. The 1982 album, which blends traditional Indian classical ragas with early electronic disco rhythms, stands as a foundational release for the genre of acid house years before the sound emerged in Chicago.
Initially overlooked upon its original release in India, the record has gained a massive cult following among electronic music historians and producers. Charanjit Singh created the project using a Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer and a TR-808 drum machine, instruments that would later define the global acid house movement.
The Origins of a Synthesizer Pioneer
Charanjit Singh approached the project as an experiment to see if traditional Indian ragas could be successfully performed using modern electronic equipment. According to NPR, the musician spent time meticulously programming the Roland gear to capture microtones and sliding pitches essential to classical Indian music.
Despite the technological innovation behind the record, local audiences in India largely ignored the release in 1982. The fusion of synthesizers and classical melodies did not fit the commercial film soundtrack market that dominated the country’s music industry at the time.
Rediscovery and Impact on Electronic Music
Decades after its release, record collectors rediscovered the album and recognized its uncanny parallel to the acid house sounds that originated in Chicago during the late 1980s. While American producers developed the genre independently using the exact same Roland instruments, Singh had mapped out the sonic blueprint years earlier.
The upcoming reissue by Light in the Attic aims to bring wider commercial availability and proper historical context to the pioneering work. The label has built a reputation for unearthing overlooked historical recordings, and this reissue places Singh’s electronic experimentation into the broader global canon of synthesizer music.