Africa Sounds by Charles Fuller
AfricaSounds recently had the pleasure of encountering Nkossi Konda at the bi-weekly "New Africa Tuesdays" fete, which takes place at the Greenwich Village Lion's Den. Nkossi, who is an original in the truest musical sense, tore up the club with his unique style of music which he refers to as "Tri-Cultural Pop." Regardless of what it may be called, there was something completely unique about Nkossi's spicy mix of Funk, Congolese Rumba, Soul, Reggae and Pop.
As AfricaSounds specializes in music from Central Africa, particularly Congolese Rumba and all its offshoots (Soukous, N'dombolo and countless other dance styles), it was exciting and refreshing to encounter such a new sound in the Diaspora with one foot strongly rooted in the Congo. By both speaking to Nkossi, and referring to his website (www.afrikool.com.) we were able to get some insight into his history. Originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo (previously Zaire), Nkossi had been living in the US for roughly 26 years. Consistently performing at various New York nightclubs and jazz spots, including Nell's and Zinc Bar, Making quite a name for himself in the Big Apple.