Charanjit Singh

Charanjit Singh is a musician from Mumbai, India, who performed as a session musician,[2]often as a guitarist or synthesizer player,[3] in numerous Bollywood soundtrack orchestras from the 1960s to 1980s,[2] working with filmi composers such as Shankar-Jaikishan, S.D. Burman, and Laxmikant-Pyarelal.[4] Singh led a wedding band and recorded and released a number of albums covering popular film songs.[5] These were a form of instrumental elevator music, some of which have since been re-released by Sublime Frequencies,[6] such as his steel guitarrenditions of “Manje Re” from Bandhe Haath in 1973 and “Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne” fromYaadon Ki Baaraat in 1975.[7] In 1981, he produced synthesizer-based electronic renditions of the Silsila soundtrack in his record Charanjit Singh: Plays Hit Tunes on Synthesizer of Silsila.[5]

Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat, an album of original electronic disco compositions Singh recorded in 1982, was a commercial failure at the time of its original release, but its re-discovery in 2002 and re-issue in early 2010 garnered attention due to its resemblance to music from the acid house genre of the late 1980s.[2][8] Since then, certain commentators in themusic press have hailed Singh as a pioneer of acid house music.[2][8][9] He also used the samedrum machine and synthesizers for his experimental electronic calypso record, Experiments in Calypso.[10] His son Raju Singh is also a musician, composing music for films and television shows.[4]