R.I.P. Charanjit Singh

(left) Charanjit Singh with Johanz Westerman at the Magnetic Fields Festival in 2013. Photo: Sachin Soni

Acid house producer and composer Charanjit Singh passed away in Mumbai on Sunday at the age of 75. Says his manager Rana Ghose, “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting it. I was hoping it wasn’t true. I was hoping he was asleep or something. I got a call from [Mumbai-based filmmaker] Sachin Pillai. I’m on a sailboat off the coast of British Columbia ”“ I’m sick and I’ve got a fever. I’m feeling super weird and spaced out and I get his call. I still think it doesn’t make sense.”

Ghose was among the first to tell the story of Singh’s forgotten album called Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat, which was discovered and re-released by Dutch record label Bombay Connection’s Edo Bouman in 2010, hailed as the earliest instance of acid house. Singh, who was already in his Seventies, went on to tour Europe with the likes of Indian American rapper Heems. Ghose says the one thing that always amazed him about Singh was his stamina to undertake a Europe tour. Adds Ghose, “I really don’t understand how he could do what he did. The only thing that seemed to matter to him was music. I’ve never met anybody that committed to making music.”

Listen to Raga Bhairav from Synthesizing: Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat below

A soft-spoken person, Singh was up for as many questions as possible during his Rolling Stone interview in December 2013, when he was slated to play his first club show in India and a set at Magnetic Fields Festival in Rajasthan. Whether it was Europe or all the way to Alsisar Mahal in Rajasthan, he said that he liked traveling and kicking off a world tour on an album he created in 1982. The best part for him was meeting fans he never knew existed. Said Singh, “They come and meet me. I can’t explain what they say ”“ they’re so happy. They keep on shouting on my name ”“ ”˜Charanjit! Charanjit we want more!’ I just sign their records.”

Prior to the new-found fame, Singh was a sessions player for Bollywood music composers such as RD Burman and Laxmikant-Pyarelal. For the last three decades, Singh and his wife Suparna also performed ghazals together and regularly toured the U.S. After Disco Raga became popular, however, Singh began devoting more time to electronica shows and had plans to release an album comprising renditions of folks songs from across the world, including Indian and African folk songs. He also had a tentative show scheduled in London in May, which Ghose said was canceled due to ill health.