Charanjit Singh (musician)

Charanjit Singh (musician) Biography

Charanjit Singh, acid house pioneer was an Indian musician from Mumbai, who played musical instruments like guitarist or synthesizer. He performed as a session musician, and was very much active in orchestras during the period, 1960s-1980s. His son Raju Singh is a Bollywood music composer and background scorer. He has also worked with legendary music composers like Shankar-Jaikishan, S. D. Burman, R. D. Burman, and Laxmikant-Pyarelal for orchestra as well as song recordings. He has also released cover versions of popular songs played using musical instruments apart from performing in wedding functions. He passed away in 2015. He recorded India’s first ever acid house in the 1980s.

Charanjit Singh was born in Mumbai in year 1940. He was a part of countless Bollywood soundtrack orchestras right from 1960s. He was also the leader of an Indian wedding band, which was quite popular those days. His band, the Charanjit Singh Orchestra, earned money performing mainly at wedding functions those days. He used to perform hit Bollywood songs those days in public functions, marriage functions etc. Inspired by the sound of disco which became immensely popular in Bollywood scene in the 1980s, he went to a recording studio with his musical instruments to record something new.

He made a record that combined western dance music with the droning ragas of Indian classical music, and the whole recording was completed in two days. It was titled - Ten Ragas To A Disco Beat, recorded India’s first ever acid house, which went unnoticed that time. Recorded back in 1982, it came to limelight only in year 2002, and later the record was re-issued. In Singh’s opinion too, it was the best album he did, while all other works were just cover versions of popular songs.

Published: January 05, 2020

Updated: January 05, 2020