Sumantra Maitra

Continuing a long tradition of Canterbury 'supergroups', Mashu evolved out of a decade-long musical collaboration between Hugh Hopper and Mark Hewins, first officially documented on their duo release Adreamor (1995, Impetus Records), taken from recordings made at an improvised gig at London's Vortex Club in April 1994. With the arrival of former Gong percussionist Shyamal Maïtra, the idea of an improvising collective making extensive use of electric instruments and Midi technology was taken a step further. Mashu made its debut at London's Vortex Jazz Bar on February 26th, 1995.