India’s early electronic music roots have been celebrated in a new compilation of tapes recovered and released by the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The NID Tapes: Electronic Music from India 1969-1972 was released on September 29, showcasing sound from producers who collaborated more than 50 years ago. The tapes were unearthed in 2017 after being discovered in a cupboard at the design institution. They highlight the foundations of electronic music in India. Composer David Tudor led workshops in 1969 on the once-pioneering Moog synthesiser, shipped from the US along with other instruments.
Paul Purgas, one half of Emptyset who discovered the lost tapes in 2017, worked to reassemble and digitise 19 tracks from 27 different tape reels. The composition includes field recordings, tape collages, soundtracks, and experimental recordings taken in the late 40s after India’s independence. The tracks have a “dreamlike” quality, says Purgas, and “a perfect, utopian moment of India post-independence”.
The NID Tapes include previously unknown composers such as I.S. Mathur, Atul Desai, Gita Sarabhai, Jinraj Joshipura, and S.C. Shama. The collection explores the foundations of electronic music across the country. A book written by Purgas called Subcontentinental Synthesis: Electronic Music at the National Institute of Design, India 1969–1972, will also be released on November 7. It includes essays and handwritten texts from the period, exploring India’s first electronic music studio. The NID Tapes can be purchased through Bandcamp.
The tracklist is as follows:
1. S.C. Sharma – After the War
2. Atul Desai – Compositions
3. S.C. Sharma – Dance Music I
4. Gita Sarabhai – Gitaben’s Composition
5. David Tudor – Tape Feedback with Moog
6. Jinraj Joshipura – Space Liner 2001 I
7. S.C. Sharma – Electronic Sounds Created on Moog
8. S.C. Sharma – Dance Music II
9. I.S. Mathur – My Birds
10. I.S. Mathur – Moogsical Forms
11. Gita Sarabhai – Gitaben’s Composition II
12. I.S. Mathur – Once I Played a Tanpura
13. S.C. Sharma – Electronic Sounds Created on Moog II
14. Atul Desai – Recordings for Osaka Expo 70
15. S.C. Sharma – Wind & Bubbles
16. S.C. Sharma – Dance Music III
17. Jinraj Joshipura – Space Liner 2001 II
18. I.S. Mathur – Shadows of the Show
19. I.S. Mathur – Soundtrack of Shadow Play
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