The Kumba Mela Experiment
The Kumbha Mela is a gathering of Sadhus, Yogis, Wandering Ascteers and Holy Men that converge on the River Ganges in India in their millions. They come to give puja and bathe in her sacred waters. This happens every four years, with a larger gathering every twelve years and every sixty four years an even more massive one occurs. The one in January/February was such a one. The idea to link up to this Mela came from a New Zealand film maker, Andrew, who was making a film on the Ganges called "Holywater" and wanted to commission a piece of music for it. This rapidly developed into an album with a special live link up to the Mela from our studios in South London via internet provided by Timmy B of Dreadzone and International psychic Uri Geller. On February 26th, the Suns of Arqa’s Indian Backline, Various Dreads, Sadhus, even a Druid and assorted engineers, friends and filmcrew tuned in to the greatest gathering of Humans in the history of the world switched on and played for three hours straight. When the internet broke we got on the phone and when the phone stopped we went inside our minds and hearts. It was an amazing experience; the vibe was electric.
The result was the album 'East of the River Ganges', Metamorphosed from those original sessions and countless other heated all-nighters over six months. There was of course a very tragic disaster with the Earthquake and some of the proceeds and profit will be going to those relief funds.
Taken from the Liquid Sound Design web site
Album: The Kumba Mela Experiment - East of the River Ganges
[BFLCD51]
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Track Listing:
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Released 2001 on Dragonfly Records. The Khumba Mela Experiment is a collaboration between members of the Dub Trees, The Orb, Suns of Arqa, Tangerine Dream, Dreadzone & Uri Geller, and produced by Youth. This album features a lot of big names, essentially all coming together in one big down-tempo global jamming session.
12": East of the River Ganges - Cleaning Fluid
[BFLT84]
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Track Listing:
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Released 2002 on Liquid Sound Design (LSD). Licenced from Dragonfly Records 2002. Written by Youth, Uri Geller, Wadada, Kadir Durish, Timmy B, Brother Culture. Produced by Youth. Additional remix and production on track 1 by Groove Corporation and on track 2 by Laurent Collat. Vocals by Brother Culture. Spoken vocals by Tudor, Supro. Featuring Suns of Arqa. Taken from the album 'East of the River Ganges' [BFLCD51]. What a magical down-tempo global affair this piece of vinyl is with two out of three mixes hitting the mark. The shorter Groove Corporation Remix is a combination of a gorgeous dub groove with the thought provoking ragga vocals of Brother Culture whilst the Extended Mix opens with a drifting, lengthy sitar solo which eventually gives way to dub electronica and the "peace and love, peace and happiness" vocals. Fantastic. The Kick Inside 'Risin' Sun Remix is a gentle tribal version, although this is slightly over shadowed by the other two mixes.
Other Info:
For further information on Liquid Sound Design releases see their official web site.
