The Oblivious Pioneer
Disco beats, Vatican cuteness, living in a video game.
Acid house music and anime lead the way in telling us that we never know when the unexpected is round the corner. Stories and curations around this corner- read on!
Disco Ragas: An unlikely music story.
The Vatican: It loves anime. Now you know.
Friday Find: Mixed media goodness in Create!.
Ibelin: The boy who lived in World of Warcraft.
Youtube goes to the cinema: Is it a movie?
With: Adele in Munich, Halloween fakery, explosive choices.
1. Disco Ragas.
Today I am tugging at a musical chord which threads through four decades, pulsating across Bombay, Chicago, Bollywood, Europe, acid house and Indian classical.
The Discovery.
The year is 2002. Dutch record collector Edo Bouman is on a trip to India. In a dusty Old Delhi shop, he stumbles across a record. On a whim, he picks it up. When he listens to it on a portable player back in his hotel room, Bouman is “blown away”; but what shocks him more is the album’s birth date- it released twenty years earlier. It appears he might have discovered some very early acid music.
Acid music is an electronic music genre, more like a sub genre of house. Defined by its hypnotic beats and distinctive “acid” sound, known for its squelchy, psychedelic tones, it went on to fuel the rave culture of the late ’80s.Through some chance occurrences in the next 24 hours, Bouman finds himself in Mumbai, and meets the man behind this album. A good eight years later, he re-releases it with his label, and aficionados of the genre world-over collectively drop their jaws.
The Roland.
Generally speaking, the emergence of acid is parked in the mid 80s, in the clubs of Chicago and Detroit. That movement itself is said to be influenced by German and Italian disco/electronic, but then, this entire space is rife with parallel/ contiguous phases across the globe, often driven by the prevalent technologies. These phases riff off each other in some cases, in others they seem to simply appear.
The Roland TB 303 synthesizer is one of the technological additions that is credited with both helping create and being the lifeblood of acid house. Indeed, its referred to repeatedly in some variation of “the legendary Roland TB 303 synth – a machine synonymous with the acid house sound”. Though there is no factually precise moment of invention, Phuture’s album Acid Trax is generally hailed as the first dawn, with its connections deeply plugged into this clearly holy instrument. ‘One day, working with a used Roland TB-303 (a commercially unsuccessful Japanese synthesizer), the adventurous pair of young musicians worked out that the machine’s canned sounds could be modulated into pulsating, squelching frequencies. Dance music would never be the same again.’
The Ragas.
Which brings us to the hero of this little tale (about time). Charanjit Singh was a sessions musician, made cover albums, played at weddings and spent a lot of time in studios recording music for the Hindi film industry (aka Bollywood).
By all accounts a gifted multi-instrumentalist, his session appearances included many of the leading composers of the time, especially Hindi film music legend RD Burman (on whose songs he is said to have elevated the use of the bass guitar). He was on tracks as iconic as ‘Chura Liya’, the very funky keyboards that kick off ‘Mere Umar Ke Naujawanon’ from Karz, and ‘Dum Maro Dum’ (the opening drone, played on a transichord- a synthesizer version of an accordion, an instrument he brought to India from a 1969 trip with Kishore Kumar).
Charanjit also appears to have been a bit of a gadget geek. Sometime in 1981-82, he purchased from exotic Singapore a new synthesizer, for no apparent reason. He found himself back in 1982 Mumbai with what has been called a holy trinity of a Roland TB 303, a TR-808 and a Jupiter 8. Teaching himself how to use these new toys, he found his way to a studio. There, in the space of two days (or three or four), he crafted a series of tracks that he thought might be… good.
There was lots of disco music in films back in 1982. So I thought why not do something different using disco music only. I got an idea to play all the Indian ragas and give the beat a disco beat – and turn off the tabla. And I did it. And it turned out good.
And so was born the album Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat. It released, and its few hundred copies sank without a trace, though one clearly made it to a shop in Old Delhi. Charanjit carried on.
Was it ahead of its time? Two decades would pass before that question as answered.
The Redux.
I’m Indian, so the melodies of the ragas are not alien to me. Listening to the album finds me swirling between enjoying the desi trance feels, chuckling at the hints of funky filmi music from the 70s and 80s, and narrowing my eyes at the occasional, possible ‘world music’ vibe that has often been cheap and forgettable.
But for the world that received the album re-released by Edo Bouman in 2010, Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat was revelatory. Most could scarcely believe this unknown album from an unheard of musician from, of all places, India. It was not only bleedingly cool, but predated the generally accepted first acid house record- Phuture's Acid Trax – by nearly five years. A "strange kink in the dance music continuum”, its rediscovery led to some recognition for Charanjit, now in his seventh decade on this planet. Music enthusiast and filmmaker Rana Ghose met him in his Mumbai home (and subsequently many times through 2014), The Guardian chanced upon him in his friend’s quiet London home, and many others besides.
It would appear this soft-spoken, gently smiling man loved what he did, but didn’t really have a sense of the place he or his his music had found. He clearly did not know about house or acid, even though his creations were now seen as early harbingers of a genre. As Bouman said of his meeting back in 2002, "He was most friendly and surprised I knew the album. I remember asking him how he got to this acid-like sound, but he didn't quite get my point. He didn't realise how stunningly modern it was."
Between 2012-2015, and now in his seventies, Charanjit found himself on tour- playing in front of electronic music fans in Europe, US and India. Unlikely something he ever could have thought about through his entire career.
He passed in July 2015.
I have grooved to this album muchly over two days, a happy mix of familiarity across genres. If I had to pick one, I’d pick two- the very positive Raga Bhoopali, and the mysterious-cool Raga Bhairav. Its a fun collection, “a party-starter that is unlike any dance record in your collection, familiar yet alien, propellant and buoyant, filled with improvised, squiggly solos and a truly infectious energy.” ^
Charanjit Singh released nine albums in total- eight were cover albums, including One Man Show and the very cheery India Goes Calypso. Some were often what might be called elevator music, like this synthesizer version of the film Silsila or the steel guitar version of Chura Liya.
But house music fans (and the internet) will remember him otherwise. The most curious of pioneers of electronic music, here was a man whose clearly considerable talent was- like many in the wider field of creative arts- ‘merely’ a cog in the wheel. Yet here was also someone whose love and joy for his craft led him to try something different, something he thought might be cool.
Both time and trends agreed.
“Do something all of your own, and you can make something truly different”
Addendum;
This rabbit hole was chanced upon courtesy the as-yet-undiscovered-by-me The Glass Beams, who covered Raga Bhairav recently, and aptly described Charanjit’s album as ‘futuristic without intention’.
Rana Ghose’s journey with Charanjit from a meeting in 2010 to the tour in Europe.
A story of Indian electronic music through to c2010.
Only after I wrote this, did I find this rather lovely traverse on Google Arts & Culture- Plugging In the Indian Roots of Electronic Music. Scroll through for more nuggets on Charanjit and a view on the India scene in general.
2. The Vatican likes Anime.
The Vatican has an anime mascot! Who saw that coming?
This is Luce, with electric blue hair, a bright yellow coat, and appropriately cutesy expressions. The official mascot for Jubilee 2025, Luce (Italian for 'light') is bang out out of an anime show. Its makers are very clear on their desire to reach out to younger people, stating they want "to live even within the pop culture so beloved by our youth.” It has been designed by the creator of the Tokidoki brand, Simone Legno. The Church has hopped onto the anime train!
What can we make of the introduction of this ‘kawaii’ character?
The Vatican understands some of pop culture and acknowledges anime’s prime spot in it, something many commenters, brands and marketers are reluctant to fully embrace. Is it more brand-savvy than many existing brands?
At the end of the day, are The Vatican and its ‘product’ also ‘merely’ brands, even if one of the biggest in the world? Some would argue this is one of the oldest brands that has cracked the way to connect with people across millennia. At the same time, it is also facing a slowing down, and must look for ways to find a resurgent growth especially in certain geographies and demographics. This is well-documented.
While many seem surprised at this move, its also worth noting that the Vatican will be holding its 2025 expo in Osaka, Japan.
3. Friday Find: Create!
This incredible piece from filmmaker Roman Dunashenko features some seriously brilliant levels of mixed media, editing and attention to detail.
A power-up for anyone in a creative rut, eye candy for anyone who needs some, a visual delight for anyone who plays in the field of making anything like this.
Dunashenko says, ““Create!” is a manifesto about creativity and inspiration, which experimentally combines the visual aesthetics of basketball and the mixed-media form.”
4. Ibelin
In The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, Norwegian parents talks about the rich experiences their disabled son had online in the World of Warcraft game, unbeknownst to them. Mats Steen died in 2014 from a degenerative muscular disease, aged 25. His parents were surprised when people from all over Europe reached out, mourning his loss. They knew their son was an avid gamer, but they had not realised the extent (and depth) of his virtual life in the game World of Warcraft.
I have yet to watch this, but here is a moving piece introducing this new documentary that comes to Netflix via Sundance.
5. Youtube goes to the cinema.
Youtubers and paranormal investigators Sam & Colby released a feature-length film recently, across 350 screens in the US. Its made a decent bucket of money. Its demanding more acknowledgement from ‘mainstream’ / Hollywood for its stars as well as its origins. Social stars bridging the gap to cinema is definitely something to take note of.
At the same time, it also raises interesting questions around the whys and whats of a film released in theatres. Does merely getting onto a big screen make it a ‘movie’? If there is no meaningful difference (sacale, budget, star power, production value etc), why should a fan pay for it when its usually for free on Youtube?
Here is an interesting Reddit discussion from fans, which includes two themes- the disrespect shown to sacred lands, and the movie being “just like their regular YT videos”. Another says, “I was also expecting the movie to be more.. ‘movie-like’ “ and “it’s a normal video but you had to pay to actually see it plus it’s not even a movie so they shouldn’t be naming it that in the first place”.
But the cold hard facts do tell a tale. Is a movie a success or a flop if it made over $1M in profit, cost <$100k, and took just 2 days to shoot?
Masala Peanuts
(where I share stories or tidbits I find interesting)
Read: A quick look at the unique and brilliant nature of Adele’s Munich residency. “She doesn’t do worldwide tours anymore, has never done a stadium run, hasn’t performed in continental Europe since 2016. It is scarcity at its best, but not as an artificial tactic to grow demand. This isn’t a “feature, not a bug” situation. This who is Adele is.”
Read. Dublin’s Halloween took a spooky turn when thousands gathered downtown for a parade that didn’t exist. An AI-generated website had advertised the nonexistent “Macnas Halloween Parade”, which went viral on Tiktok, leading thousands to assemble. Costumed Dubliners waited and watched…for nothing.
Look. Canal+ says there are No Bad Choices in this action-packed spot with a twist.
Off for my brew!