Back in the early nineties drum and bass were two separate things, Asian music was still bracketed as exotic, dub and reggae as dead and anyone playing dance music at any tempo than 100bpm was taken out and shot. Into this sad epoch emerged an ever changing line-up of DJ’s, producers and musicians of all sorts of backgrounds and cultures, linked by a refusal to be straight jacketed into one style and a belief that mixing musical genres didn’t have to be some sort of obscure artistic statement.

Sine then, Trans-Global Underground have become notorious for mixing musical styles and rhythms with a total disregard for musical genres, technological barriers and common sense. Sometimes they’ve been right in the public eye, sometimes behind the screen, but they’ve never stopped being influential. Their mix whatever would have been unthinkable if they hadn’t thought of it first; now that sort of cultural mash-up is commonplace. But they’ve long moved on…

A little history: Their first single ‘Temple Head’ was a statement of intention and gained the status of a club anthem despite operating at a slow funk tempo with Indian classical rhythms, Brazilian percussion and guitar solos. It took a while for the rest the world to catch up, but by the mid-nineties the growth of ambient and trance styles had created a hunger for new ideas and Trans-Global Underground had plenty. By now an acclaimed live act featuring Arabesque vocals, Nepalese temple guardians and a multitude of rappers and percussionists, their first album, ‘Dream of 100 Nations’ reached the top fifty, got ecstatic reviews and topped the indie charts… the record company, Nation Records was totally independent at the time. The second album, ‘International Times’ went top forty and launched the group into Europe.

The schedule got heavier as TGU started remixing and producing, recording the album ‘Diaspora’ under the name of vocalist Natacha Atlas, while at the same time bringing out a third album ‘Psychic Karaoke.’ By now the band had developed a reputation in central and eastern Europe that found a reflection in the gypsy influences in the fourth album, ‘Rejoice Rejoice,’’ subsequent recordings in Prague, Budapest and Sofia and tours that took them as far east as Kazakhstan.

A whole nation of members of the tribe have come and gone….original female vocalist Natacha Atlas found great success as a solo artist, still for the most part produced by TGU, while original male vocalist Tuup came and went at irregular intervals, reappearing unexpectedly in different parts of the world. At various times the line-up has included South African solo artist Doreen Thobekile, Johnny Kalsi from the Dhol Foundation, and still includes Britians greatest sitarist in Sheema Mukherjee.

TGU have diversified even further over the years….producers/DJs Hamid ManTu and Tim Whelan relocated in Cairo for a brief period at the end of the 90s, working for artists like Hakim, Khaled and Kazem El Sahar before the release of the 5th album. ‘Yes Boss Food Corner’ sent TGU on a worldwide journey that lasted 3 years and took them through to the 6th album, ‘Impossible Broadcasting,’ with which they came home…most of them anyway….to the UK and set up their own label, Mule Satellite. And whilst their last album was an invitation to enter into their world, their next offering, ‘Moonshout,’ probably their most ambitious release to date and set to hit shelves in June 2007, steps out into everyone else’s.

No one at the start would have predicted that after all these years Trans-Global Underground would still have a large amount of respect and influence, that they would still have a loyal following and that they would still have the energy to continue a touring schedule that would finish most groups off. Trans-Global Underground developed a life of its own, goes where it will for it’s own reasons. Everyone else simply follows.