The Spatial AKA Orchestra is a large
jazz-style ensemble (up to 25 members) led by former
Specials frontman and keyboard player
Jerry Dammers. The ensemble originated as a
tribute band to the American musician
Sun Ra (1914–1993) when Dammers formed it as The Cosmic Engineers to play at a "Space"-themed event in 2006 at the newly reopened
Roundhouse in
London. Later he renamed it The Spatial AKA Orchestra, derived from The Special AKA (alternative name of
The Specials) combined with the
outer space connotations of
Sun Ra's music. The band's repertoire has subsequently expanded to include compositions by Dammers from the
Specials era, sometimes appropriately renamed - for example
Ghost Town" becomes "Ghost Planet", "International Jet Set" becomes "Interplanetary Jet Set".
Reggae,
ska,
big band jazz,
library music and
classical pieces are also featured. The band members perform in elaborate
Ancient Egyptian and outer space-themed costumes (as did
Sun Ra's Arkestra, pioneers of
Afrofuturism), and share the stage with bizarre props such as model
alien heads and
mummy Sarcophagi.