Recorded in the Kalahari Desert in 1995, this project was initiated by Pops Mohamed, a musician renowned for his dedication to protect and preserve the indigenous tribal music from his homeland. With a philosophy that states "if people don't understand where they come from, there is a hole in the soul", Pops had been trying to find original recordings of the Bushmen music for many years. Unsuccessful in his search he soon realised that he had to go himself. 

RESPECT (BW2094)

"Robert 'Doc' Mthalane may not be a household name, but the South African master guitarist spent much of the 1990's both playing and writing songs for the acclaimed Zulu singer Busi Mhlongo and her group Twasa. Sadly Doc fell victim to tuberculosis and died prematurely in 1998, but not before leaving us with one last exquisite album of uplifting and heart-rending beauty. From the languid opening chords of Eva, the slowly surging crescendoes of Masihlanganemi to the rousing rhythmic call to action of Mamambo, this is one of those rare albums that can enrich your life and soothe your soul." 

Follow Your Dreams (BW093)

"I've always had this dream of recording an album with South African musicians playing alongside some of the best musicians in the world. I'm also telling my people that this country is unique, that musically, audiences haven't learnt to appreciate what they have available to them. In a way it's a plea to give South African musicians a chance."
"I was usually first in the studio while we were putting it together at Realworld in England. I'd arrive and start playing the chords of Song For The Gurus on the piano and as the guys arrived they would join in.
When the melody played itself out in my head, I would think of these musicians, who were some of the most educated musicians, and I'm not talking of school education, but being educated musically, these guys knew their music. Guys like Duke Makasi, I would imagine myself in their shoes, how they would handle certain things."
A jazz ballad, Song For The Gurus features the mature tenor saxophone of Khaya Mahlangu. The solo guitar is from a sparkling Lawrence Matshiza.

SECOND WAVE (ELM8001)

‘Featuring the cream of predominantly Arab musicians, this collection of traditional vocals and instruments is given added punch with touches of unobtrusive electronica. This spellbinding set will find fans beyond the confines of "world" music.' Music Week, July 2000.
Alien Soap Opera, a vehicle idiosyncratically driven by the prolific remix engineer and former member of The Orb, Greg Hunter, features the expertise of Egyptian master of Arabic classical music, Amir Abdel Magid. Meeting in Cairo when Greg went to record with Killing Joke, Amir listened in on the recording session and asked Greg to mix a track for him. Enthralled with the results the two decided to work together on a more permanent project.Over the next four years Greg travelled between London and Cairo co-writing with Amir and collaborating on various projects, producing and mixing Arabic music and touring the Gulf finding inspiration. Alien Soap Opera and Fifth Sun were the results of this partnership. Amir Abdel Magid is a musician/producer/arranger, famous throughout the Middle East for his Kanoon (Egyptian Harp) playing, his recordings and live performances. He is a familiar sight on Arabic TV (MBC etc), with his music aired almost daily. He regularly tours with his orchestra throughout the world performing Arabic music.

Further information as well as 30 Second samples of the tracks below will be listed soon, so check back again to listen to this incredible new album. 

INTRODUCTION

In 1998 Robert Trunz had the notion that an album by a group from Cape Town called TransSky(Brendan Jury & Warrick Sony) produced by Greg Hunter would be a good thing. He set about making it happen first getting Greg to Cape Town and booking a couple of weeks time with what was then Shifty Studios. Getting to know and work with Greg through this period was a great education and a privilege for me. I learned a lot about the world of synthesized ORB style sound and frozen ants. This was the first of three work periods with Greg which spanned three years. It was, however, the period where we all did the preliminary recordings which would form the texture of the whole album. Everything was recorded and assembled onto 24-track ADAT system using an old Protools system to edit and loop. All sounds were originated by our performances and those of the special sessions which we hosted at the studio. Brendan had left Cape Town and the project by the time of Greg's second and third visits which saw the pieces morphing into huge sound epics with sampled and performed merging together processed and squeezed into the ether. Strings and things were developed and added at Milestone. Speakers were blown. Greg left with a box of mixes and we resolved to do a track each separately and release it all as a band called PLINC the album Turntabla. Greg was never entirely happy with many of the tracks and the distance and interest made the project difficult to complete for him, other things cropped up and life overtook us all. Robert approached me towards the end of 2007 and asked if I would revisit it as a Kalahari Surfer and finish it off, which I did. Many of the original pieces had chunks of samples that we could never hope to clear without great expense so I had to strip things out rework, replay and remix. These were sent to Greg who sprang some new mixes into the timeline and gave constructive spiritual guidance. This then is the final putting to bed “Turntabla” with the last track being a homage to the great intelligence which guides us all.
Om purnam ada punam idam
Thanks to Robert Trunz for a decade of patience. 

Warrick Sony

All profits from the cd sales go to the Kalahari Garden Project and the Himba peoples initiated by Hattie Wells.
http://www.globaldiversity.org.uk/regional_programmes/southern_africa/community_conservation.html

for more details and interviews with Hattie please click on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqZHOlCuD0k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrsVDhM_4oY