Transglobal Underground

Transglobal Underground is a London-based UK electro-fusion group active from 1992 to the present. It develops from the early 1990s London dance and club scene and combines downtempo, dub, tribal house and world fusion with elements of electronic music, ambient textures and club-based percussion. The group forms around a loose collective approach, with members changing over time and names sometimes used flexibly.

Origins and early releases

The group takes its name from the recording of the single Temple Head for Nation Records, a label created to bring together western dance music with Arabic, Asian and African music. The single features tablas, Polynesian vocals and a slow tempo, and it attracts attention from DJs including Andy Weatherall, Danny Rampling and Monkey Pilot. It is named Single of the Week in Melody Maker and played on daytime Radio 1. Early public imagery for the act uses three Nepalese temple guardians.

The early line-up includes Man Tu, Tax D, Alex Kasiek, percussionists Goldfinger and Terry Neale, rapper Sheriff and Aki, with background influences drawn from DJ culture, Indian classical music, reggae, bhangra, hip-hop, community politics, underground art and 1980s pop. The group rejects a straightforward four-to-the-floor dance format and builds a style from slowed-down hip-hop, faster dub and multilingual vocals.

Albums, line-ups and live work

After Temple Head, Deconstruction Records offers the group an album deal. Sessions in Euston produce its debut album, with vocalist Natacha Atlas joining for the first time after leaving Invaders of the Heart. She becomes a regular presence and performs with the group while also developing a solo career. The debut album Dream of 100 Nations is widely praised and reaches the top fifty.

The group’s second album, International Times, follows with support from Sony, and the live band expands into an eight-piece act with a full light show and touring set-up. Transglobal Underground also works as remixers and producers, including remixes for industrial acts such as Grotus and Headbutt. Their production work for Natacha Atlas includes Diaspora, which closely reflects the group’s live line-up, and Halim, whose single Amulet helps bring her wider recognition among Arabic audiences.

The third official album, Psychic Karaoke, appears in 1996 and is followed by a break after touring. Neil Sparkes and Dubulah form Temple of Sound with Terry Neale, while Larry Whelan works with Banco de Gaia and Natacha Atlas continues to appear live with Transglobal Underground.

Developing collective and later projects

In the mid-1990s the group operates partly as a club collective, using DJs Nelson Dilation and VJ Sheikh Ad Helik, and later includes Johnny Kalsi of the Dhol Foundation. It tours Eastern Europe, plays Sarajevo at the end of the war in Yugoslavia, and makes first visits to the United States and Turkey. The album Rejoice, Rejoice is partly recorded in Hungary and Belgium and introduces gypsy and broader European influences. Tuup returns onstage for that tour, alongside sitarist Sheema Mukherjee.

The group supports Page and Plant on a major European tour in 1998. By 1999 Natacha Atlas and Johnny Kalsi are occupied with other projects, but the band continues to work with Atlas on recordings, including the largely Transglobal Underground-produced album Gedida and the hit single Mon Amie La Rose in France.

After leaving Nation Records, the group establishes its own Mule Satellite label to release Impossible Broadcasting. The label also issues the remix collection Impossible Re Broadcasts and the one-off bellydance release Beach Bellydance Babylon. Transglobal Underground continues to tour internationally, including in India, Tunisia, Turkey, South Africa, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka and Venezuela, and works in Egypt with Hakim, Riko, Mika Sabet and Natacha Atlas. It has a number one hit in Turkey with a remix of the Greek folk song Capkin.

2000s and 2010s

The group records Yes Boss Food Corner at Fortress Studios in London and releases it through Ark21’s Mondo Rhythmica label. After touring, it focuses on DJ sets and sound systems. In 2003 Coleridge opens a dance record business, and Transglobal Underground and Doreen Thobekile begin work on a solo project. The sixth album, Impossible Broadcasting, is recorded in London, Prague, Budapest and Sofia, including work with the Bulgarian traditional group Trio Bulgarka.

The line-up later contracts to a five-piece live band, and the group plays festivals and venues across the UK. It also tours North America again. Doreen Thobekile’s solo album London Zulu is produced by the group in 2006. The album Moonshout follows, with contributions from Krupa and Rav; Tim, Hamid and Sheema also contribute to the debut album by the Imagined Village, which wins a Radio 2 Folk Award. Moonshout wins a Radio 3 World Music Award in the Club Global category and leads to further touring across Europe.

In later work, Tim and Hamid begin U.N.I.T.E., a project bringing together collaborators from across Europe, and Sheema Mukherjee continues with the Imagined Village. The group also develops In Transit, bringing together musicians from London and the seven nations of the Arabic side of the Persian Gulf, and works on remixes for the Albanian band Fanfara Tirana. This leads to the album Kabatronics and a large-scale live show. Current members listed for the group include Natacha Atlas, Coleridge, Count Dubulah, Hamid Man Tu, Alex Kasiek, Sheema Mukherjee, Nick Page, Doreen Thobekile, The Unprecedented Unorthodox Preacher, Larry Whelan, Tim Whelan and Neil Sparkes.