149: East of the River Ganges, by The Kumba Mela Experiment

The Kumba Mela Experiment (United Kingdom)
East of the River Ganges (2001)
10 tracks, 67 minutes
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The early 2000s were the glory days of world dubtronica, and The Kumba Mela Experiment was a supergroup between some of the UK scene’s leading names. The publicity around East of the River Ganges, the project’s only album, calls it ‘a collaboration between members of Dub Trees, The Orb, Suns of Arqa, Tangerine Dream, Dreadzone and Uri Geller’ …yeah, that Uri Geller. Okay, his participation seems somewhat of a gimmick, but don’t let that put you off too much – the rest of the contributors all have pedigree and work together well, and everything is brought together under the production of Youth.

The group’s name is actually a misspelling of Kumbh Mela, the huge Hindu festival at Allahabad, which sees hundreds of millions of worshippers bathe in the Ganga river – the event in 2001 was one of the biggest gatherings ever witnessed. That reference may give you a bit of a clue as to the direction the album moves towards. Although the basis of the music is all sorts of dub, electronica, psytrance and chill-out, the whole sound is informed by Indian music, with the strains of sitar, shehnai, bansuri and tambura floating all the way through.

What I love about this album is that it is a whole experience of its own. Most of the tracks are long – often over 10 minutes each – and every one of them is a journey in itself. They evolve slowly and take their time, but it never feels like it stagnates. The movement is constant even in its calmness – just like the stately movement of the ancient river. The chill-out vibes are strong here, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of stonking beats and dub-infected bass drops.

I wouldn’t say this record has aged badly, more than it is a sound that definitely places it at a certain point in time. To be honest, I’m not in touch with the hippy electronica scene as – or if – it exists coming up to the 2020s, and so I don’t know what sort of sounds or personalities are being expressed nowadays, but this work of 18 years ago still lifts my spirit with the optimism it contains. It sounds utopian, seeming to promise the existence of one big blissed-out peace gathering of all creeds grooving to everyone else’s drum – a naïve fantasy, but it’s the sort of thing that doesn’t really seem to be heard in today’s climate of cynicism and forever-war. For shame. Luckily we still have these records to reminisce on those times. So turn off your mind, relax and float downstream – wash your troubles away to the sound of the Kumba Mela Experiment.