- published: 31 Jan 2013
- views: 1963
Coordinates: 30°54′N 31°7′E / 30.9°N 31.117°E / 30.9; 31.117
The Nile Delta (Arabic: دلتا النيل) is the delta formed in Northern Egypt (Lower Egypt) where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers 240 km of Mediterranean coastline—and is a rich agricultural region. From north to south the delta is approximately 160 km in length. The Delta begins slightly down-river from Cairo.
From north south the delta is approximately 160 km in length. From west to east it covers some 240 km of coastline. The delta is sometimes divided into sections, with the Nile dividing into two main distributaries, the Damietta and the Rosetta, flowing into the Mediterranean at port cities with the same name. In the past, the delta had several distributaries, but these have been lost due to flood control, silting and changing relief. One such defunct distributary is Wadi Tumilat. The Suez Canal runs to the east of the delta, entering the coastal Lake Manzala in the north-east of the delta. To the north-west are three other coastal lakes or lagoons: Lake Burullus, Lake Idku and Lake Maryut
Transglobal Underground (sometimes written as Trans-Global Underground or simply as TGU) is a London-based music collective who specialise in a fusion of western, oriental and African music styles (sometimes labelled as "world fusion" or "ethno-techno"). Their first four albums featured Natacha Atlas as lead singer and their single "Temple Head" was used in a Coca-Cola advertising campaign for the 1996 Olympic Games. In 2008 they won the BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music after the release of their seventh official album, Moonshout. Their eighth album, The Stone Turntable, was released in May 2011 and their most recent release is an EP of remixes from the album, titled We Come To Tear Your Wall Down.
Although Transglobal Underground has always had a fluid line-up, the two core members of the group are Tim Whelan (keyboards, guitar, flute, melodica, programming, vocals) and Hamilton Lee (percussion, drums, keyboards, programming). Throughout the group's history, Whelan and Lee have deliberately clouded their identities via multiple pseudonyms and obscure credits - Whelan generally operating under the alias of "Alex Kasiek" and Lee under the alias of "Hamid Mantu" (also "Man Tu" or "Chris Hamilton"). Whelan has also used his "Alex Kasiek" pseudonym outside TGU work (sometimes combining it with his real name, as he did for his guest appearance on the 2002 Project Dark album Gramophone De Luxe) and has sometimes implied that Kasiek is a separate person. (For the purposes of this article, Whelan and Lee will be predominantly referred to by their main pseudonyms of Alex Kasiek and Hamid Mantu.)