Who invented acid house?

Acid house is generally credited to Chicago DJs including DJ Pierre, Spanky, and Herb J (the trio Phuture), whose 1987 track 'Acid Tracks' defined the genre using the Roland TB-303 bass synthesiser. However, Indian session musician Charanjit Singh created an almost identical sound independently in 1982 — five years earlier — on his album '10 Ragas to a Disco Beat.'

What is '10 Ragas to a Disco Beat'?

'10 Ragas to a Disco Beat' is a 1982 album by Charanjit Singh, a Bollywood session musician in Mumbai. Recorded on a Roland TR-808 drum machine, a Roland TB-303 bass synthesiser, and a Roland Jupiter-8, it translates ten classical Indian ragas into electronic dance music. It predates Western acid house by five years and was unknown outside India until crate-diggers rediscovered it around 2010.

Why was Charanjit Singh's music not recognised as acid house?

Singh recorded the album for a Mumbai film music publisher as a background music commission. It was released on a small Indian label, never exported, and had no distribution in the West. The acid house scene developed independently in Chicago without knowledge of Singh's work. By the time Western listeners discovered the album, acid house had already become a global movement.

The Bollywood Musician Who Arrived Five Years Early

Genre: electronic, acid house, Indian classical, TB-303, Bollywood, 1982

February 28, 2026

A Bombay session musician used a TB-303 flaw to play ragas, accidentally inventing acid house five years before Chicago — then went back to weddings.

Tracks

1. Higher State of Consciousness — Josh Wink
2. Voodoo Ray — A Guy Called Gerald
3. Windowlicker — Aphex Twin
4. Acid Tracks — Phuture
5. I've Lost Control — Sleezy D
6. Can You Feel It — Mr. Fingers
7. Anasthasia — T99

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