About

Alain Nkossi Konda

Founder Alain Nkossi Konda is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo and he has spent more than 29 years in the Urban jungle of New York. Even though he has been residing for the last four years in the city of Immenstadt/ Bavaria which is located in Southern Germany, he is still very much a leading member of a “New” and extremely talented generation of songwriters/artists/producers & vocalists who crave for a beautiful musical adventures all the while leaving deep footprints on the American and the European Metropolis.

Mr. Konda earned himself a reputation as a hard working musician/producer within the NYC Afro-Pop community. He is a respected innovator who effortlessly combines his African musical heritage with his new western homeland creating what he calls „Tri-cultural pop“ which is a combination of Funk, Soukous, Rumba & Reggae with Pop hooks sung in English Lingala & French. Nkossi which means “The lion” in Kikongo has managed to keep faith with his identity all the while developing a style and a sound with global appeal… An original 21st century Afro-pop sound.

In 1999, Nkossi became the first artist signed by Harry Belafonte for his new label Niger Records/ Palm Pictures in collaboration with Island Records founder Chris Blackwell.

During the spring of 2001, Nkossi and his associate Jim Savitt set up their own production company Afrikool Music Productions. The objective is to provide the necessary environment that can facilitate the cultural exchange between African artists and their Western counterparts.

Co-founder Jim Savitt is a guitar virtuoso signed to the New York based Independent label Nighcast Records. His versatility and the fluidity of his playing style have enabled him to swiftly apply finishing touches to various high profile projects produced by Afrikool such as : “World Voice 2001“ which is a spoken word album Produced by Rick Garson & A.N.Konda featuring among many artists: Britney Spears, N’Sync, Aerosmith, Brooke shields and many more... Reading quotes & prayers from the late Pope John Paul the II's private journals.

Alain's International Songwriting Contests Awards:

* Finalist in the “World” category of the 2001 U.S.A. Songwriting Contest with his original track “Tambula malembe”.

* Grand Prize and the second prize at the 2002 International John Lennon Songwriting Contest in the „World“ category . The prize winning songs: “Unconditional love” and “Story tellers” can both be auditioned on his 2nd album titled „Africa Pella“ released in 2003.

* Semi-finalist in the “World” category of the 2003 International Songwriting Competition with his song “Foot of the hill”.

* Winner at the 2003 Nashville Christmas Song competition with his original track “Bells Ringing”.

* Finalist at the 2004 U.K. Songwriting Competition with a new song titled “Your anything” which is featured on his next album titled Nostalgia to be released in the month of December 2005.

* Honorable Mention Award at the 2004 U.S.A. Songwriting Competition with a track titled “Bolingo” which means Love. A previous version of the track was featured on the SONY/ Epic Compilation Album “Brazen Original Soundtrack released in 1994 & Produced by 2 Time Grammy Award winning Producer Gordon Williams (Santana “Supernatural” & Lauren Hill’s “The miseducation of Lauren Hill).

* Finalist at the 2004 International Songwriting Competition with a song titled “Moment of truth” which he originally composed for consideration as the official song for the "2005 World Nordic Championships” which were held last in Obersdorf/ Germany.

* 2005 selected as the winner of the "World" category of the West Coast Songwriters Contest with the title "Unnacceptable" & he also received an Honorable mention prize for another title "Pulling the rug".

* Honorable Mention Award in 2005 Nkossi placed among the top 500 Songwriter' s entered in the 13th Annual BILLBOARD World song contest and won 2 Honorable mention awards with his tracks "Only for a moment" and "Foot of the hill" .

* First prize winner in the "World Category" of the 2006 John Lennon Songwriting Contest (Session 1) with his original title "Na ndimaki te" along with an Honorable Mention Award for a second song titled "Tambula malembe".

* Finalist March round in the "World category" of the 2006 VH1 Song of the year with "Desperation & confusion, Honorable Mention Award with a second song titled "Foot of the hill".

* Winner of the 2006 International MusicAid AWARDS as Best Solo Male Artist & Best Songwriter For GERMANY

* First prize winner at the 2007 International UNISONG Songwriting Contest in the "World/ Reggae" Category with the song “Take my soul to keep”, a second song titled “Adiyoyoyo” placed among the top 20 Finalists in the same category.

* Finalist in the “World category” of the 2007 U.S.A Songwriting Contest with song titled “Take my soul to keep”.