About Alain Nkossi Konda
Alain Nkossi Konda is a versatile singer and songwriter born in heart of Africa (the Democratic Republic of Congo), bred in New York City and now resident among the Bavarian mountains in Southern Germany. He terms his music as 21st Century Tri-Cultural Pop which is performed in at least three languages including English, Lingala (indigenous in Africa)and French. Mixing funk, Soukous and reggae with pop hooks; Mr.Konda caught the eye of music legend, Harry Belafonte who signed him up for his record
label, Niger Records/Palm Pictures in collaboration with Island Records founder, Chris Blackwell.
Taking the lead at a tender age from his diplomat father, working for the United Nations Development Program, Alain Nkossi (Nkossi means "Lion" in Kikongo) started singing. He released his first album Adiyoyo Mona Lisa in 1998, the following year he became the first artist to be signed by Belafonte's Niger Records.
During the spring of 2001, Alain and lead guitarist, Jim Savitt set up a production company, Afrikool, which provides the tools to facilitate the cultural exchange between African artists and their American and European counterparts. Tired of patronising attitudes towards African music, Afrikool shows that Africa can provide first-class, first world music which is keeping up with the musical trends while remaining inherently African.
He wrote 18 songs and co-produced World Voice 2002 with promoter
Rick Garson (responsible for Michael Jackson, George Michael and The Rolling Stones tours). The spoken word album featured artists such as Britney Spears, N'Sync and Aerosmith reading prayers from Pope John Paul II's private journals.
He has been honoured by the song writing competitions held in the U.S.A.,the UK and been heralded by the John Lennon Song Writing Contest. Happy to work with a diverse range of artists in different genres, he has been busy and his track, Bolingo is featured on dance compilation, Brazen produced by Grammy-Award winner producer Gordon Williams. He followed this up with Koko, which appeared on Saturday by deep house pioneer, Kerri
Chandler and Jerome Sydenham (New York's Ibadan Records). Content in the dance field, Alain featured and co-wrote Afrida and Unclear
Reasons for the album, Gentle Flowers by German dance icon, Lemongrass working as Jasmon. Alain paid tribute to punk icons, The Ramones and contributed a cover of I Want To Be Your Boyfriend to the Ramones tribute compilation, All Good
Cretins Go To Heaven that was released in March 2005.
He did pre-production and arrangements for Live Your Dream, the official 2005 World Nordic Championship and also produced A Timeless Vibrations, a Bob Marley tribute album released in 2005. His producing talents teamed up with Kanda Bongo Man for African Rose: Volume 1, which features various artists from the African continent. Other albums he has contributed and worked on include Valley of Ethnic Dreams, 21st Century Storytellers and
Reggae/Ragga Dreams. His next album, Nostalgia will be released in late 2005/ early 2006.
label, Niger Records/Palm Pictures in collaboration with Island Records founder, Chris Blackwell.
Taking the lead at a tender age from his diplomat father, working for the United Nations Development Program, Alain Nkossi (Nkossi means "Lion" in Kikongo) started singing. He released his first album Adiyoyo Mona Lisa in 1998, the following year he became the first artist to be signed by Belafonte's Niger Records.
During the spring of 2001, Alain and lead guitarist, Jim Savitt set up a production company, Afrikool, which provides the tools to facilitate the cultural exchange between African artists and their American and European counterparts. Tired of patronising attitudes towards African music, Afrikool shows that Africa can provide first-class, first world music which is keeping up with the musical trends while remaining inherently African.
He wrote 18 songs and co-produced World Voice 2002 with promoter
Rick Garson (responsible for Michael Jackson, George Michael and The Rolling Stones tours). The spoken word album featured artists such as Britney Spears, N'Sync and Aerosmith reading prayers from Pope John Paul II's private journals.
He has been honoured by the song writing competitions held in the U.S.A.,the UK and been heralded by the John Lennon Song Writing Contest. Happy to work with a diverse range of artists in different genres, he has been busy and his track, Bolingo is featured on dance compilation, Brazen produced by Grammy-Award winner producer Gordon Williams. He followed this up with Koko, which appeared on Saturday by deep house pioneer, Kerri
Chandler and Jerome Sydenham (New York's Ibadan Records). Content in the dance field, Alain featured and co-wrote Afrida and Unclear
Reasons for the album, Gentle Flowers by German dance icon, Lemongrass working as Jasmon. Alain paid tribute to punk icons, The Ramones and contributed a cover of I Want To Be Your Boyfriend to the Ramones tribute compilation, All Good
Cretins Go To Heaven that was released in March 2005.
He did pre-production and arrangements for Live Your Dream, the official 2005 World Nordic Championship and also produced A Timeless Vibrations, a Bob Marley tribute album released in 2005. His producing talents teamed up with Kanda Bongo Man for African Rose: Volume 1, which features various artists from the African continent. Other albums he has contributed and worked on include Valley of Ethnic Dreams, 21st Century Storytellers and
Reggae/Ragga Dreams. His next album, Nostalgia will be released in late 2005/ early 2006.
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