Transglobal Underground

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.

“Tonight, they blow away long standing fans and those that have never heard of them before. The only people not dancing are those stood open mouthed thinking, wow, this is amazing.” - Peppermint Iguana: LANDED FESTIVAL

“This was the heaviest and most hyped Transglobal show I have seen, really putting the beat in world beat…a brilliant gig” - Hip-Hop Mag JAZZ CAFÉ

“The collisions are as glorious as ever....swaggering ... a classic TGU mix of soul, rap, electronica and bliss” - FINANCIAL TIMES

“They did it first, they did it best and are pretty much back on top form here” - ROOTSWORLD

“A record that shows the band continuing to grow and develop...a record of the world, and in these times of solitude and conflict and isolationism, it’s a very welcome one” - BACKSEAT MAFIA

“Joyful and forward thinking...the masters of global fusion are back with a gem” - WORLD MUSIC CENTRAL

“A disc which, after two or three immersions, risks possessing you” - MUZZART

"The Brit-Asian collective boldy go where no psychedelic, drum and bass, funk, punk, dub, global beatists have gone before" - INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

"The most irresitable rhythms to which anyone with soul can dance"- THE TIMES

"This musical collective have dipped in and out of fashion, but the new album finds them on inventive form" - GUARDIAN

“A pan-European journey you’ll want to embark on at length” - SONGLINES

“Swaggeringly confident...perhaps their most in-tune with the zeitgeist effort yet” - INDEPENDENT

“They show no signs of losing that magic that makes them so special...they compress more sounds, beats and genres into one song than most bands manage in a whole career.” - SPIRAL EARTH