Temple of Sound Biography

Temple of Sound’s music perfectly captures 21st Century London, while traveling the globe to create collaborations and innovations on the World Music scene.

What have Peter Gabriel, Anglo-Arabian diva Natacha Atlas, Pakistani musical royalty Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali and UK dub poet supreme Linton Kwesi Johnson got in common? Well, they’ve all collaborated with Temple of Sound. Add to that a list of collaborators: flavor of the moment Mexico’s Los De Abajo, Jean Jacques Burnel (leader and bassist of The Stranglers), Cuban violinist Omar Puente (Afro Cuban All Stars) and Senegalese drummer Doudou N'Diaye Rose, and it becomes evident that the Temple of Sound duo of Neil Sparkes and Count Dubulah are buzzing with ideas and a sheer creativity that they are translating into great and innovative sounds.

Temple of Sound are Neil Sparkes, the vocalist, percussionist, poet and painter and Count Dubulah, responsible for the rolling dub bass lines and soaring melodic guitars. Together they have developed a unique writing, production and performance team at the fore-front of World Music, Dance and Dub for over a decade. Sparkes and Dubulah first combined their talents as producers and songwriters in TransGlobal Underground.

Founder member Count Dubulah and Neil Sparkes were at the forefront of the experiments in the early 1990s with world and dance music combinations when they were responsible for writing and producing large chunks of the seminal Dream of 100 Nations (1993) album and TransGlobal Underground’s commercially successful albums for Nation, BMG, Sony and MCA; including Templehead (1991) and the hit International Times (1994). As such they played a central part in the emergence of a distinctive global dance club sound.

Characteristically, Sparkes and Dubulah are still at the cutting edge, making great music and influencing many other artists. Temple of Sound's name may even be a tribute to that fact, as they are releasing their fifth studio album Globalhead on Namaste Records in May 2007; and their production work for a hitlist of World, Dance and Dub artists continues to push the barriers of World music forward . These include Los De Abajo (Real World) and Natacha Atlas (Beggars Banquet), nominated for Best Album in World Music Awards 2007.

Temple of Sound spent six weeks at the beginning of 2005 in Mexico City at the invitation of BBC Radio 3 World Music Award winners Los De Abajo to produce their new album.

The two groups first met in 2003 in Australia appearing at WOMAD festivals in Adelaide and Taranaki, New Zealand.

The album was recorded at Grammy Award winner Pepe Aguilar’s studio in Mexico City; mixed by Temple of Sound at Real World Studios, and is released in September 2005 on Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records. This production received acclaim in all the UK press, and saw the group appear on the Jools Holland Later show on BBC TV and play listing on BBC Radio 1 and 2.

Temple of Sound provided production, writing and playing duties for the new Natacha Atlas album Mish Maoul released on Beggars Banquet in 2006.

Sparkes and Dubulah are two maverick creators, and what bonds them together is a broad obsession with all sorts of musical styles : Latin, Dub Reggae, African, Arabic, Asian, House, Pop, Hip-Hop and a love of deep depth- charged dub bass. A fact proven by the wealth of Collaboration, Production and Live work the duo deliver. This generous melting pot of musical influences has seen the music of Neil Sparkes and Count Dubulah come full circle, from World to Dance Club and back again to something with its own distinctive sense of culture, strong tolerant and inclusive. There is a palpable sense of excitement about Temple of Sound. They are buzzing with ideas and a sheer creativity that they are translating into great and innovative sounds. Temple of Sound feels like an unstoppable force at the cutting edge of global culture.

Temple of Sound’s debut album First Edition, a fabulous mixture of beats and world music, was released by Wagram Music in 2002.

First Edition contains twelve tracks written and produced by Sparkes and Dubulah. The cover and inside booklet feature paintings and original artwork by Neil Sparkes. The video for their single “Chica Bonita” was produced by Seb Janiak of Daft Punk and filmed while the group were in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and received massive play internationally. In the last year the group have had tracks placed on over 40 compilation albums worldwide.

As producers, writers and musicians Temple of Sound made the album People's Colony No.1 for Peter Gabriel’s label Real World in 2001, with Rizwan Muazzam Qawwali (nephews of the late great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan) with whom they then toured with throughout the UK and Europe appearing at international festivals as far afield as Sicily, Athens, New Zealand, Singapore, Belgium and Roskilde in Denmark.

In 2002 Temple of Sound co-wrote and produced the widely acclaimed Arabic tinged Dub epic Shout At The Devil with Jah Wobble for 30 Hertz Records. The album features vocal performances from Natacha Atlas, Shahin Baddar and Nina Miranda.

They have recently remixed DJ Cheb i Sabbah for Six Degrees in the USA; Ladysmith Black Mambazo; Claude Challe, (creator of the Buddah Bar) ; Lee Perry and The Congos; Banco De Gaia; Bollywood Brass Band; Fundamental and the Fatback Band; as well as doing mixes for Blood and Fire, Select Cuts, Sony, BMG, Maverick and MCA/Universal.

Neil Sparkes is co-writer with Peter Gabriel and Karl Wallinger of the Peter Gabriel single “Burn You Up, Burn You Down”, which appears on the massive selling Peter Gabriel Best Of collection Hit.

In 2003 Temple of Sound composed the title music for the feature film Stander (USA), and their music featured in the films “Les Gaous” and “Dillo Con Parole Mie”.

Temple of Sound’s music has been used by fashion designer Ferragamo for their summer collections and Valentino in their catwalk shows and by advertisers such as Pilot Pens and Adobe. The talented duo are developing work on original soundtracks and have composed and produced incidental music for features on BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky Sports.

Temple of Sound is the culmination of Sparkes and Dubulah’s multiple musical experiences, which has resulted in a powerful and contemporary juxtaposition of global, popular and dance sounds.

The group have translated this onto stages across the globe from tours in 2003-2005 through Australia and New Zealand; Latin America; the Far East and Europe.

The group appeared at Glastonbury 2005 with a storming set. Temple of Sound released Gold Of The Sun (Diesel Motor) showcasing the group live at WOMAD UK and Las Palmas, and concerts in Switzerland. The 2 CD set includes live film footage and guests Jean Jacques Burnel (The Stranglers), Natacha Atlas, Mykaell S Riley, Wai and Jo Legwabe.

Globalhead came out on May 8th 2007 on Namaste Records (Koch Records) in the USA. The album features 12 tracks written and produced by Neil Sparkes and Count Dubulah aka Temple of Sound (ex-TransGlobal Underground) featuring guest appearances by some of the best World Music artists including Natacha Atlas, Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali, Abdullah Chhadeh, Ben Baddoo, Junior Delgado, Jah Wobble, Dr Hukwe Zawose, Charles Zawose, Jo Legwabe, Adrian Sherwood, Getatchew Mekurya, Teremag Weretow, Nara and Jimi Papazanateas.

Official Web Site: www.templeofsound.co.uk