shpongle

With over 80 years experience collectively Simon Posford and Raja Ram are more than qualified for the exploration into the unclassifiable music frontier they have ventured into; 'SHPONGLE' is a new world of traditional sounds, acoustic guitars, Moroccan drums, Turkish operatic singing, cello, double bass, backing vocals and silver flute blended together by the computer wizardry of Simon Posford's studio production. Simon Posford (aka Hallucinogen) has long been reputed as the, 'Hallucinogenius', an imitable pioneer in sound experimentation, from his seminal first album, 'Twisted' which reached No.28 in the French charts selling over 50,000 copies worldwide, up to his recent Millennium hit, 'Mi-Loony-Um' with its up-to-the minute modem melodies. His international fan base has mushroomed from countrywide to worldwide in the last five years.

Since his humble beginnings at Youth's Butterfly Studios in Brixton, he has worked in the Olympic, Sarms, and Virgin Studios amongst others. He has played hundreds of gigs across the planet since the success of this first album. This year alone he has played over 16 sell out gigs around the world; each with a capacity of over 1500 people, in Australia, Israel, New York, Pittursburg, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Moscow, Geneva, Montreal, Tokyo to name just a few. In Tokyo Simon & Raja have received a lot of TV and press coverage for their ambient project, 'Shpongle' which has intrigued the Japanese audience with its international blend of traditional world cultures and modern musical mastery.

They have recently licensed and released the album on BMG in America and have had several requests for collaborations from musicians in the U.S., including Alan Parsons who engineered Pink Floyd's, 'Dark Side of the Moon', asking to work with Simon. Raja Ram, is the innovative sonic co-pilot producing alongside Simon and providing inspiration for the album as well as his unmistakable flute solo's in C Major and artwork for the covers and the website. As a founding member of the band Quintessence in the sixties Raja has many years of band experience in the music industry. Not only a band member but also the creator of TIP Records along with their infamous party sound and energy, he is not only a brilliant flautist but the creative mind behind the 'Shpongle' concept. Shpongle has been a working project since the release of the first album, 'Are You Shpongled', in 1998 filtered out into the underground in which Twisted Records is so renown for its dance music. Having sold 30,000 copies without any marketing or promotion Simon and Raja are now ready to hit the world with their unique sound again and have been on a mission to express the new Shpongle sound since finishing the album over the winter, Raja has played a series of 16 parties in Brazil as well as the Shpongle tour with Simon including a LIVE premiere under Mount Fuji in Japan. Now finally the UK has a chance to catch up on this worldwide phenomenon with further gigs at The Womad festival and Glastonbury 2002.