|
|
 |
Impossible to Explain, Impossible to Forget Trans-Global Underground Surfaces in Jamaica, Bulgaria, India, & Beyond
There are people in the middle of the Kazakh steppe and the mountains of Sri Lanka who know them well; there are people in the middle of London who have never heard of them. Some people know them as a group of DJs, some as an Arabic remix outfit. They have been linked with the Asian Underground (whatever that was), Gypsy techno (whatever that is), Egyptian hip-hop, and sometimes turn up in the Acid Jazz section of more confused stores. They’ve never been to Goa, but they went to Mumbai. They are a consistently changing anonymous collective and also a seven-piece band except when there are four of them. They are Trans-Global Underground and this is, by at least one way of reckoning, their sixth album, Impossible Broadcasting, to be released by Triloka Records/Artemis on May 3, 2005.
Rather than mixing musical styles, Trans-Global Underground starts from the premise that there is no such thing as ‘musical style’ to start with. Impossible Broadcasting sounds like a radio station from an unknown country playing its own hugely successful top 40 on a previously undiscovered wavelength. The grooves are familiar, the music is accessible, but it is not quite like anything from anywhere you can pinpoint, ‘The Khaleegi Stomp’ must be from Brazil? Hang on, there’s a sitar in there. No it’s Kuwaiti? Is it American? Sod it.
In ‘The Sikh Man and the Rasta’ a group of Zulus have arrived in Southall and joined a reggae cover band. O.K. then, is this that stuff called global fusion? If it is then ‘Drinking in Gomorrah,’ a dark comment on the downside of multiculturalism, shouldn’t be here should it? And it’s not Asian Underground seeing as the Trio Bulgarka, featured on two tracks, are Bulgaria’s most renowned vocalists, and Bulgaria’s not in Asia last time we checked.
The Trio Bulgarka’s voices take Impossible Broadcasting way up into the mountains; Trans-Global Underground’s other guests take it down to earth. ‘Cikan-Le Message’ is delivered by Malian rap crew Tatapound and deals with corruption in Africa. The sound collage of ‘Radio Unfree Europe’ deals with much the same thing in Europe. ‘Sentinal’ deals with something even nastier.
So it’s a political album? That doesn’t explain the break-beat spattered beauty of ‘Vanilka’ led by Sheema Mukherjee, the best British-born sitarist right now. And there’s no easy way at all to explain what’s going on with ‘Take the A Tram’ or vocalist and storyteller Tuup’s tribute to Indian private transport on ‘Yellow and Black Taxi Cab.’
This album is the proud product of countless years of recording, touring, collaborating and broadcasting, impossibly packed onto one CD. Impossible to explain, impossible to analyze, impossible to predict, impossible to forget. This is Trans-Global Underground’s most confident and powerful album to date.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
