Indian electronic music from 1969-1972 collected on new compilation, ‘The NID Tapes’
Featuring the work of composers working at India's first electronic music studio
A collection of previously unheard electronic music made in India between 1969 and 1972 will be released this autumn.
‘The NID Tapes: Electronic Music from India 1969-1972’ arrives on 29th September via Strange Attractor Press and State51.
The vinyl and digital release spotlights the work of the composers Gita Sarabhai, I.S. Mathur, Atul Desai, S.C. Shama and Jinraj Joshipura. The musicians worked at India's first electronic music studio at the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad in the years following the country's independence from Britain.
Those years are described in the compilation's accompanying material as “utopian” and a “radical period of visionary experimentation and artistic freethought”. New York composer David Tudor personally set up a Moog modular system and tape machine in the autumn of 1969 at the NID studio. ‘The NID Tapes...’ also includes an excerpt from Tudor’s work discovered among the collection of tapes.
British artist Paul Purgas – one half of Emptyset – pushed for the release of the previously unheard music after travelling to Ahmedabad several times over the years to explore the origins of electronic music in India.
An accompanying book, Subcontentinental Synthesis: Electronic Music at the National Institute of Design, India 1969–1972, is out on 7th November. Also edited by Purgas, the collection of essays reflects on the larger cultural and political dialogue surrounding the studio.
See information about pre-ordering ‘The NID Tapes: Electronic Music from India 1969-1972’ here.
