WOMAD

Temple of Sound featuring Natacha Atlas

From Belgium, Morocco, United Kingdom

Temple of Sound (UK)Official website: www.templeofsound.co.ukFunkier, tougher global dub professors Neil Sparkes and Count Dubulah formed their own post-Trans-Global Underground vehicle in the form of Temple of Sound. A blend of funky Latin percussions, chilled out trip hop and drum n bass, this group has all the essential elements to rock the WOMAD crowds! Temple of Sounds are joined at WOMAD Canarias 2002 by the legendary Natacha Atlas, a long-time collaborator of the group.Press release from Wagram Music, September 2002:‘First Edition’Temple of Sound Debut AlbumOn Wagram - 23 September, 2002Wagram Music are releasing the debut album from Temple of Sound, First Edition, on 23 September. Wagram, the leading French independent distributor and label responsible for Nova, Buddah Bar, George V and Nirvana Lounge compilations and ranked among the top 10 independent European labels, has now opened its U.K. office. Temple of Sound are Neil Sparkes, the vocalist, poet, painter, and percussionist and Count Dubulah, responsible for the heavy dub rolling basslines, gurgling guitars, deft production, intricate programming and bouts of Mediterranean nobility. First Edition is a conglomeration of cultural flavours that drive their sound - Afro-Cuban, Latino, House, skanking reggae, pop, hip- hop, huge dub bass and nu-beats, a true mash of the exotic . First Edition contains twelve tracks, written and produced by Sparkes and Dubulah. Neil Sparkes has also contributed the painting and original artwork for the cover and inside sleeve. Collaborators on Temple of Sound’s debut album include bass legend Jah Wobble, Natacha Atlas, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Massive Attack’s tour band bass player Winston Blissett, one of the founder members of Steel Pulse Mykael Riley, DK (Omzone) and the Stranglers’ Jean Jaques Burnel in a pop meets beats around the world journey….The first track on the album Chica Bonita, with a video produced by Daft Punk's Seb Janiak, seamlessly mixes Zapista style dancehall grooves with the emphasis on funky Latin riddim with vocals by Princess Julianna, and a killer sample from the Colombian Big Cumbia album. This will be Temple of Sound's first single - getting off your knees is the only option.As producers and remixers, Temple of Sound have made the album Peoples Colony No. 1 for Real World, with Rizwan Muazzam Qawwali (nephews of the late great Nusrat Fateh Ali Kahn) and Shout At the Devil, a collaboration album with the mighty Jah Wobble for 30Hertz Records. They have recently remixed Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Fundamental, and Fatback Band, as well as doing mixes for Blood & Fire, Select Cuts, Sony, BMG, Maverick, and MCA/Universal.Count Dubulah (as part of Transglobal Underground) produced the first four of this group’s albums and Natacha Atlas’ Disaspora and Halim albums and programmed for Jah Wobble’s recent remix of Holly Valance Kiss Kiss (U.K. No.1).Neil Sparkes is a verteran of Real World Recording Weeks where he collaborated as a lyricist with Peter Gabriel. He worked extensively alongside artists from around the globe in the early 1990's as he developed his combination of Spoken-Word and World rhythms. His early interest in Arabic rhythms and idioms was furthered by studying with Master Egyptian percussionist Hossam Ramzy. Sparkes has, in the past, released his first solo album Burning Mask which includes spoken word performances which he perfected working alongside Jalal of The Last Poets and Linton Kwesi Johnson. Subsequently, Temple of Sound augment a cultural cohesiveness in their music through poetry, rap and an in-your-face approach to the spoken word.Dubulah and Sparkes’ music has been used by fashion designer Ferragamo for their 2003 summer collection and Valentino in their catwalk shows and by advertisers such as Opal cars in Italy, Pilot Pens and Adobe. The talented duo have contributed towards full length feature film soundtrack music and have composed and produced incidental music for the full length feature BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Sky Sports. Their songwriting success includes the Transglobal Underground album Dream of 100 Nations and single International Times (U.K. Top 40) and a TV commercial for Levi’s Jeans. The duo have now been working together for a decade and First Edition is a culmination of their multiple musical experiences, which resulted in a powerful and contemporary juxtaposition of global, popular and dance beats sounds. The way Sparkes tells it “…we like to combine the raw with the technological and we should not be slaves to it. It should be closer to the techniques of painters. Unafraid to use technology but who don’t lose sight of the bigger picture. We never stray from our music. Traditionally every rhythm has a story behind it, a strong emotive stance. Music is a language, it represents your role in society and artists are the barometer for that.”Or as Count Dubulah (who started his career with Steel Pulse man Mykael Riley and later the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra) points out: “The new album (First Edition) is the soundtrack of our lives, in full urban technicolour, from hi rise flat to Ziggurat, and back…”Website: www.templeofsound.co.ukNatacha Atlas (Belgium/Morocco)Natacha Atlas almost single-handedly defines the word "multicultural". She grew up in the Moroccan suburbs of Brussels, becoming fluent in four languages and an expert at the raq sharki belly-dance. Her musical adventures include a semi-permanent stint with Jah Wobble and a long-term role as singer with Transglobal Underground. In these projects, and on her solo albums, she blends the voices and textures of Middle Eastern music with the beats of modern dance. 1997 will be her third solo appearance here, and she has played another three Rivermead festivals with Transglobal Underground. After moving to England she met Jah Wobble - with whom she co-wrote and sang five tracks on the highly praised 'Rising Above Bedlam' album - and sang and danced with Transglobal before releasing her first solo single, 'Dub Yalil' (Nation Records), in 1994. With its Arabic instruments, percussion and heavy dub backing, it provided a template for her first album, 1995's 'Diaspora'. Writing with the Tunisian singer Walid Rouissi, Natacha produced a set of emotional love songs that explored Arabic tradition while tempering it with Western beats.In 1997 Natacha's second album, 'Halim', was released. It's dedicated to Abdel el-Halim Hefez, the "Nightingale of the Nile" who was a superstar in Egypt from the early fifties until his death in 1977, and is remembered for retaining his modesty and generosity, even at the height of his celebrity. Halim was half-Jewish and half-Muslim, so his music could help to unite the country. This message of inter-racial harmony is one whose significance has never been lost on Natacha.The album draws on Algerian rai and the classical Egyptian tradition, sometimes fed through the impressionistic production of Jaz Coleman (formerly of Killing Joke). It's a record of emotional highs and lows, melodic, dramatic, even mysterious. All this and she also wrote music for the Kurt Russell sci-fi blockbuster, 'Stargate'.