VA. - The NID Tapes: Electronic Music from India 1969​-​1972 (The state51 Conspiracy)

VA. - The NID Tapes: Electronic Music from India 1969​-​1972 (The state51 Conspiracy) Cat: CONNACOL 001LP, released October 6, 2023. The NID Tapes presents a collection of early Indian electronic music uncovered at the archives of the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad. Recorded between 1969 and 1972 the compilation chronicles electronic works from the previously unknown Indian composers Gita Sarabhai, I.S. Mathur, Atul Desai, S.C. Sharma, and Jinraj Joshipura who worked at the first nation's electronic music studio founded at the NID during the utopian years following India’s independence - a radical period of visionary experimentation and artistic free-thought.

The studio was founded with support from the New York composer David Tudor who personally set up a Moog modular system and tape machine in the autumn of 1969. The NID Tapes also includes an excerpt from Tudor’s work discovered amongst the collection of tapes. The release was developed from a long-term research project by the British artist and electronic musician Paul Purgas who traveled to Ahmedabad for years to explore the origins of electronic music in India. This resulted in the discovery of the electronic music archive at the NID and its eventual restoration and digitizing, which featured in the acclaimed BBC radio documentary Electronic India.

The compilation presents excerpts from the 27 reels of archive tape spanning the three years of the studio's operational history, showcasing work from the pioneering electronic composers which included the musician and poet Atul Desai, NID teachers and technicians I.S. Mathur and S.C. Sharma, Gita Sarabhai who had previously studied with John Cage in New York in the 1940s and the young architecture student Jinraj Joshipura who was just 19 years old at the time of first composing with the Moog synthesizer. The audio showcases their various visions for electronic music production, exploring analog synthesis, tape collages, voice experiments, and field recordings revealing a meeting point of Western and Indian avant-garde traditions, and offering a unique insight into South Asia’s post-colonial sonic imagination. The vinyl and digital is a collaborative release by Strange Attractor Press and State51 and has been mastered by Hari Shankar Kishore (HVAD) with design for the release and a vinyl etching created by Shreya Aurora a recent graduate from the National Institute of Design.

Launching simultaneously through Strange Attractor Press will also be a book titled ‘Subcontinental Synthesis: Electronic Music at the National Institute of Design, India 1969–1972’. Edited by Paul Purgas this collection of critical essays will reflect on the larger cultural and political dialogues surrounding the studio and will feature an audio CD of The NID Tapes as well as written contributions by Geeta Dayal, You Nakai, Rahila Haque, and Jinraj Joshipura - the last surviving composer from the NID. Essential!