Ambient music meets political under tones when Banco de Gaia play the Cambridge Junction to celebrate the 20th anniversary of one of their best selling albums.
The band, who earned notoriety in the 90’s for chill out tunes against a backdrop of the acid house and rave scene, will be playing their album Last Train to Lhasa along with new tunes.
The band features James Eller (The The) on bass, Ted Duggan (The Beat) on drums, and Toby Marks on guitar and synths, with accompanying visuals courtesy of VJ Patrick Dunn.
After winning a Mercury prize for their album Maya, Banco de Gaia released Lhasa as a pro Tibetan musical offering.
In an interview with campaign magazine, Free Tibet, Marks speaks about his reasons why.
“I spent a lot of my teens and early 20s reading endlessly about spirituality, religion, philosophy, occultism, mysticism, anything that offered more depth and meaning that the empty consumer society I was growing up in,” he said.
“I kept coming across references to Tibet which described a magical land of spiritual purity and mystery.
“Coupled with books on Tibetan Buddhism, this gave me an image of a unique land and culture that I found absolutely fascinating, and for some reason felt very drawn to.
“It was some years later that I found out about the Chinese invasion, which saddened me very deeply. I had held a glamorised view of Tibet, but no matter how exaggerated and inaccurate my version of it was, Tibet was a real place where real people lived and maintained some unique traditions.
“For that to be under threat seemed to be a huge loss for the whole of humanity.
“One of the privileges of being a musician on any level is that people pay attention to you, even if it is only for a brief period. I was in the privileged position of having the attention of quite a large number of people so I wanted to point their attention to something that I felt was really important, and just might help the Tibetans’ cause a little.
“It is important that those of us who can speak up for justice, do so. I don’t suppose I’ll be getting any invitations to perform in China any time soon – but if we put self interest and personal reward ahead of the basic principles of justice and human rights then we contribute to the decline of our own society, and the human race as a whole.
“Don’t be afraid to speak up for what you believe in, there are many in Tibet and elsewhere who have had that right taken away from them and we should make our support for them loud and clear.”
Banco de Gaia appear with support form Sophie Barker of Zero 7 on Saturday March 12. Doors open at 7pm in Junction 2.
Tickets £16.
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