Line-up

Headliner
Transglobal Underground Last time in Leicester: 29 years ago

Venue

The International

Garden St, LE1 3UA, Leicester, UK

the-international.co.uk

View upcoming concerts

Additional details

Doors open: 19:30

Magic Teapot presents Transglobal Underground + Sonar//Radar

Few acts in the UK can demonstrate such a profound influence, a multifaceted legacy, and carry such a mysterious legendary status as Transglobal Underground. From their origins in the dance scene in the early 90s they became one of the country’s best loved festival bands, a techno sound system, a pop group, a club night, a Middle Eastern hit production team, an improvised study group for Indian classical music, an Albanian brass band, a duo..or was it an octet?… Transglobal Underground exploded onto the club scene with the club classic ‘Temple Head’ a track with inspiration taken from the UK bhangra scene, with one foot in the Madchester and indie worlds, and another in club music. The mix was totally new (DJs loved it but couldn’t work out what speed to play it at) and the track is still regularly played on the radio today. The collective went on to practically create a new genre with a series of albums mixing a heady concoction of club grooves, dub, bhangra, rock, digital hardcore and oriental melody, driven by the possibilities of musical technology, inspiration and a massive belief in the need to create something creating a bar that kept others looking for the next level of global experimentation. The best known albums are probably the most recent, ‘Walls Have Ears’, the top 20 ‘Dream of 100 Nations’ and the BBC award winning ‘Moonshout’ but they’re almost as well known for their collaborations with artists such as Page and Plant, original lead vocalist Natacha Atlas, the Trio Bulgarka, and Fanfara Tirana. Now, more than 30 years later, Transglobal Underground continues to fill venues across Europe, showcasing their enduring appeal and influence

Live reviews

EFG London Jazz Festival 2019
Transglobal Underground
PizzaExpress Jazz Club (Soho)
Friday 22nd November

So what is Transglobal Underground? Well, over 25 years it’s been a DJ/musical collective, a working band famous for it’s scorching live shows, a techno soundsystem, a folk festival rabble rouser, a pop group, a club night, a Middle Eastern hit production team, an improvised study group for Indian classical music, an Albanian brass band, a duo..or was it an octet?...a seminar, a medicine show and several things no one involved would admit to if they could even remember them.

Starting out in the 90s as a heady blend of dub, funk and bhangra with a strong Madchester vibe, TGU have taken in a huge mixture of influences and style from around the world, a world they have always seen from the viewpoint of their London base. By the time the word multiculturalism was being bandied about as a buzz word TGU had long moved on , sticking to only two rules; it’s got to be funky and if you hear the warning sound of a barrier ahead, smash it down with bass.

It’s rare that Transglobal Underground get the chance to play a more intimate show beyond the festival and club sets that they’ve been long loved for. As a result their performance at the Pizza Express will be a special chance to see some other sides of the collective, focussing on their dub, rare groove and Indian flavoured roots and showcasing Sheema Mukherjee, the best known British born sitarist working in the country today, multi percussionist Rav Neiyyar, Carribean storyteller and shamanic poet Tuup, rhythm demon Hami ManTu and digital trickster Tim Whelan. Expect a a joyful and unpredictable journey into the bottomless vaults of the Transglobal catalogue and a whole lot of new surprises….better still, expect nothing because the only predictable thing about Transglobal Underground is their unpredictability.

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