TransGlobal Underground
Formed in west London, England in 1991 as a loose collective of DJs and musicians around the nucleus of Alex Kasiek (b. Tim Whelan, 15 September 1958, London, England; keyboards, programming), and Hamid Mantu (b. Hamilton Lee, 7 May 1958, London, England; drums, programming), Transglobal Underground released "Templehead", their debut single, in June of that year. Its mix of pounding house rhythms with sampled Tibetan chants introduced a dance music/world fusion explored in greater depth two years later on their debut album, Dream Of 100 Nations, which added the extraordinary silk and spice vocals of Natacha Atlas, various rappers and a diverse assortment of sampled Eastern, African and Caribbean voices and instruments to the cross-culture stew. Now regulars on the festival circuit and godparents to a growing global dance music subculture of bands, DJs and record labels, the band released International Times in October 1994. While offering no radical departures from the "ethno techno" sound of its predecessor, the album featured fewer samples, relying more on live musicians including Egyptian violinist Essam Rachad, tabla player Satin Singh and free jazz guitarist Billy Jenkins.
Listen to TransGlobal Underground
at Finetune.
Albums
- (1998) Rejoice Rejoice
- (1997) Psychic Karaoke
Top Tracks
- Daughter of the Desert
- Delta Disco
- A Tongue Of Flame
- Thousand Year Heat
- Ancient Dreams of the Sky
Related Artists
- Banco De Gaia
- Bill Laswell
- Ultramarine
- Black Uhuru
- Scorn
- African Head Charge
- Afro Celt Sound System
- Lee "Scratch" Perry
- Sly & Robbie
- Deep Forest
- The Mad Professor
- Dr. Ring-Ding/Senior All-Stars
- Adrian Sherwood
- Sheila Chandra
- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
- Burning Spear
- Peter Gabriel
- Linton Kwesi Johnson
- Tabla Beat Science
- Barrington Levy
Fans