Band of brothers
By: Nicki Escudero
Description: KONGOS sound spans continents

The members of progressive rock band KONGOS have music in their blood–the four brothers’ dad is John Kongos, a singer-songwriter who had hits in both South Africa and all over Europe in the 1960s and 70s.

Now that his kids call Arizona home, KONGOS has gained local attention for the band’s eclectic sound that takes influence from a variety of world music.
You can hear the band on 97.9 KUPD-FM on Dec. 22 at 8:30 a.m., and the band plays live at Sugar Daddy’s in Scottsdale Dec. 27.

Give me a brief biography of the band.

KONGOS is a rock band of four brothers– John J, Jesse, Dylan and Daniel Kongos. Their music is driven by strong melodies, powerful arrangements, a high level of musicianship and insightful lyrics.

They grew up in London and South Africa and now write, record and perform in Phoenix, Ariz. With multi-million-seller British singer-songwriter John Kongos as their father, they have been surrounded by music, studios and different cultures all of their lives. John J and Jesse studied jazz at Arizona State University and have played in several jazz and fusion groups over the past few years (see www.LawOfSeven.com). All four have been vegetarian since birth and vegan for the last three years.

Their debut album was released Jan. 16th, 2007 on iTunes worldwide. Written, produced and engineered by themselves, it demonstrates their wide range of influences culminating in the KONGOS sound. In May 2007, they were named Best Rock Band of Phoenix by the Phoenix New Times.

How do you feel you fit in with the Arizona music scene?

We’re really into Indian, Middle Eastern and African music and are heavily influenced by Tinariwen, Miles Davis, The Beatles, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Salif Keita and Arvo Part as well as Coldplay, Pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, etc. We feel we’re part of the emerging, adventurous side of the Arizona music scene.

Describe what your live show is like.

Our live show is musically energetic and diverse with little pause between songs. It features solos on accordion, keyboards, guitar, slide guitar and drums. Also, all four of us sing harmonies.

Explain one of your favorite songs and why it stands out.

“In the Music” captures the KONGOS sound very well, we think. It has a lot of African influences in the verses, a strong anthem-like chorus and a great accordion solo. (The songs can be heard on our myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/kongos)

What’s up next for you and the band?

We are recording some new songs and plan to play shows both in the Phoenix area and Los Angeles.

Describe your band in three words.

Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscient … Oooh

Trackback URI | Comments RSS