Mandragora are an English

space rock Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drummin ...

/world dance music band from

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, England, whose formative output can be described as

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

with ethnic sounds and tribal rhythms. Formed in 1983, the band have released 5 albums of their own, and a collaborative album with Phil Thornton. They built up a loyal following on the

free festival Free festivals are a combination of music, arts and cultural activities, for which often no admission is charged, but involvement is preferred. They are identifiable by being multi-day events connected by a camping community without centralised c ...

circuit of the 1980s and 1990s, and were signed to

Delerium Records Delerium Records was a British independent record label, that specialised in psychedelic music and which existed from 1991 to 2003, and was notable in promoting the careers of bands including Porcupine Tree, Ozric Tentacles, Kava Kava (band), ...

. In recent years Mandragora have evolved into a world music/electronic dance act featuring singers and musicians from all corners of the globe.

History

Early years

Mandragora began life as a

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

influenced psychedelic rock band formed by Simon Williams in 1983. They played gigs and festivals around the UK including the

Stonehenge Free Festival The Stonehenge Free Festival was a British free festival from 1974 to 1984 held at the prehistoric monument Stonehenge in England during the month of June, and culminating with the summer solstice on or near 21 June. It emerged as the major fre ...

of 1984. Their first album was a self-financed cassette only release called ''Something Missing''. In 1983 Simon Williams saw a performance by innovative

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...

synthesizer pioneer, Phil Thornton at a festival in

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

and after the show the two met. So in 1988 when Mandragora were asked to open for Hawkwind on their UK tour, Phil Thornton was invited to play synths with the band. With improvisation a key component of Mandragora's live concerts, Phil, with his

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...

and samplers, gave them a much more sophisticated sound. While the band's early material, due to its guitar and synth driven nature, was always compared favourably to other similar acts such as

Ozric Tentacles Ozric Tentacles are an English instrumental rock band, whose music incorporates elements from a diverse range of genres, including psychedelic rock, progressive rock, space rock, jazz fusion, electronic music, dub music, world music, and ambi ...

, the band always experimented with different musical styles. It is this interest and experimentation that led to the band's style and integration of many different musical genres, with Simon Williams stating that the impact Phil Thornton's studio experience and production skills had on the second album, 1991's ''Head First'' (Resonance Records), was immense, the band started to receive airplay on BBC radio with

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

and Mark Radcliffe playing their track "Zarg". Two studio albums (''Head First'' and ''Earthdance''), a live album (''Temple Ball'') and a collaboration with Phil Thornton on his solo album ''While The Green Man Sleeps'' followed to critical acclaim. Mandragora have toured extensively throughout their career and played in many European countries, including Israel, Germany, Russia, Italy, Denmark, France, Éire, Hungary, Belgium, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Hungary and the UK. To this end, Mandragora started to gain a large following around the UK

scene, including three appearances at the

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

. They were also invited to open for many varied artists such as

The Wailers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

Gil Scott-Heron Gilbert Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American Jazz poetry, jazz poet, singer, musician, and author, known primarily for his work as a spoken-word performer in the 1970s and 1980s. His collaborative efforts with musician ...

Transglobal Underground Transglobal Underground (sometimes written as Trans-Global Underground) is an English electro-world music group, specializing in a fusion of western, Asian and African music styles (sometimes labelled world fusion and ethno techno). Their f ...

Gong A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

The Orb The Orb are an English electronic music group founded in 1988 by Alex Paterson and Jimmy Cauty. Known for their psychedelic sound, the Orb developed a cult following among clubbers "coming down" from drug-induced highs. Their influential 19 ...

and

The Shamen The Shamen ( ) were a Scottish psychedelic band, formed in 1985 in Aberdeen, who became a chart-topping British electronic dance music act by the early 1990s. The founding members were Colin Angus, Derek McKenzie and Keith McKenzie. Peter St ...

. Niall Hone has since gone on to join

and Nik Hunt has joined Here & Now.

Later years

The release of the band's most recent album, ''Pollen'', in 1998 saw them shift into a more dance orientated direction, encompassing elements of dub,

psy-trance Psychedelic Trance, Psytrance or Psy is a subgenre of trance music characterized by arrangements of rhythms and layered melodies created by high tempo riffs. The genre offers variety in terms of mood, tempo, and style. Some examples include full ...

and

Celtic music Celtic music is a broad grouping of music genres that evolved out of the folk music traditions of the Celtic people of Northwestern Europe. It refers to both orally-transmitted traditional music and recorded music and the styles vary considerab ...

. They drew on both traditional world musical styles and the mechanisms of the psychedelic dance scene. Also on this album were notable guest appearances from

Howard Marks Dennis Howard Marks (13 August 1945 – 10 April 2016) was a Welsh drug smuggler and author who achieved notoriety as an international cannabis smuggler through high-profile court cases. At his peak he claimed to have been smuggling consignmen ...

and

Arthur Brown Arthur Brown may refer to: Entertainment * Arthur William Brown (1881–1966), Canadian commercial artist * H. Arthur Brown (1906–1992), American orchestral conductor * Arthur Brown (musician) (born 1942), English rock singer * Arthur Brown, ak ...

. After the release of ''Pollen'' the band took a hiatus. Multi-instrumentalists Simon Williams and Phil Thornton went on to form

Earthdance The Earthdance Global Peace Party is the world's largest underground music and dance event for peace. Held annually since 1997, the event features hundreds of music artists, DJs, dancers, and speakers at local Earthdance events around the world, o ...

a group of musicians, film makers and producers specialising in world/dance and chillout music.

Resurgence

According to the band's official website a new album is scheduled for release in 2010. The article states: "World dance music pioneers and firm festival favorites’ Mandragora’ are back doing live shows and have a new album/film scheduled for release in 2010. The current line-up features the amazing Bosnian singer Dalinda, who grew up in Libya and has released albums for ARC records. Dalinda is well known all over the Middle East and North Africa from her MTV appearances in Egypt and live performances throughout the world. Original members Simon Williams and Phil Thornton are back performing live again as Mandragora after several years concentrating on studio projects, producing other artists and performing live with other acts as well as recording musicians all over the globe!"

Band members

* Simon Williams - guitar, synths, vocals * Phil Thornton - keyboards, samples, e-bow, guitar * Dalinda - vocals * Simon Cowburn - percussion * Al Jenkins - bass * Steve Elliott - bass * Angus Ross - keyboards, vocals * Andy Stokes - drums, percussion * David C. Hëwitt - keyboards *

Niall Hone Niall Hone (born 24 June 1970) is an English musician, best known as a member of the UK space rock band Hawkwind from 2008 to 2017, and May 2018–2021. Hone has also been heavily involved in electronic dance music since the early 1990s. Music ...

- bass, feedback, samples * Pete Newman - drums, percussion * Mick Reed - drums * Geoff Holroyde - drums, percussion * Nikelby Hunt - drums * Nick Colegrave - synthesizer * Tim Burton - Vocals and synth * Guy Pearson - Drums * Stuart Ranger - Bass *Steve Cassidy - Drums

Discography

Albums

* 1988 ''Over the Moon'' - LP/CD (Babbleon Records) (CD re-released on

has three extra tracks) * 1991 ''Head First'' - LP/CD (

Resonance Records Resonance Records is an independent jazz record label established in 2008 as the centerpiece of the Rising Jazz Stars Foundation, a non–profit organization dedicated to preserving the art and legacy of jazz. The label is based in Los Angeles, Ca ...

) (CD re-released on Delerium Records has three extra tracks) * 1993 ''Earthdance'' - LP/CD (Mystic Stones) * 1994 ''Temple Ball'' - LP/CD (Mystic Stones) * 1998 ''Pollen'' - CD (

) With Phil Thornton * 1993 ''While the Green Man Sleeps'' - LP/CD (Mystic Stones)

Cassette only albums

* 1984 ''Somethink Missing'' * 1990 ''Under the Sun Live'' * 1992 ''Mandrake Madness'' (outtakes and Live)
Also, the track ''Conspiracy'' appears on the Delerium compilation ''A Psychedelic Psauna (In Four Parts)''.

References

External links

Mandragora
at MySpace
Interview with Simon Williams and Simon Cowburn from 1999

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20150920094120/http://www.delerium.co.uk/bands/mandragora/index.html Mandragora's Delerium Records page
Earthdance
at MySpace
Mandragora on psychedelicmusic.net

Mandragora
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Earthdance website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandragora (Band) Jam bands English psychedelic rock music groups English space rock musical groups