Kenya Kondo

April 24, 2012
On the final installment of Cover Story, Ruby and the Romantics assure us that our day will come; the ladies take the wheel on Word Play; and singer-songwriter Kenya Kondo talks about the path that led him to Alberta from the country that was his namesake. - CKUA Radio

April 24, 2012
On the final installment of Cover Story, Ruby and the Romantics assure us that our day will come; the ladies take the wheel on Word Play; and singer-songwriter Kenya Kondo talks about the path that led him to Alberta from the country that was his namesake. - CKUA Radio

Singing in the snow and channelling a young Peter Gabriel in the process, accidental Edmontonian Kenya Kondo bids you “Welcome to My High.” Part jazz singer, part harmonious nature-boy, Kondo is a charming showman with a mellow yet soulful voice that draws you into his lyrically intimate stories. A singularly well-thought-out debut for the African-born songwriter, Wait’s 10-step spiral staircase sees Kondo negotiate a wide range of moods and tempos without departing from his warm and full-bodied vocal style. A bevy of L.A.-based musicians give him a soft place to land on standouts like the acoustic spellbinder “Tears Fall Down” and “Walk With Me,” a dusty western-scape of a cut that finds Nairobi native Kondo rolling tobacco cigs with a Tom Jackson brogue on his lips. Indeed, Kondo’s commitment to getting into the spirit of each song is as impressive as his honeyed vocal tones. More than just a capricious romp, Wait allows for moments of deep introspection, self-examination... and soaring electric guitars, as on “Angel.” Holding a mirror up to his own psyche, Kondo generates magnetism as his quixotic emotions flow between polar extremes. He widens up on the rainy intervention piece “Moses,” recalling the loose-lipped abandon of Barenaked Ladies’ Steven Page. Almost reverential in his treatment of “Window” and “Find My Way,” Kondo embraces his cultural evolution as he touches on the textures of gospel, Motown and roots rock like a kid watching fence posts whiz by on the QE2. The more you listen to the patient passion behind Wait, the more apparent it becomes that his irresistibility stems not from the album’s slick production values, but from his smooth and careful handling of each note. Sweeten the deal with a million-dollar smile and splashy sense of Rat Pack reverie and you have the makings of a modern legend. - Christine Leonard, Fast Forward Weekly-FFWD Weekly

Like reindeer on Candy Cane Lane, there's no shortage of new Christmas tunes by some of Edmonton's finest musicians.

Here are five suggestions to spice up your Bing-, Bieber-and Buble-saturated playlists:

1. Kenya Kondo, Christmas Is Here

A gentle and joyous folk-pop ode about ringing bells, smiling children, songs of hope, and the birth of Jesus.

For Kondo, Christmas isn't so much about shopping and Santa Claus.

He grew up in Kenya, where he says presents weren't part of their yuletide tradition, but "good food and family time" were.

"Something happens around December with so many different holidays and traditions putting nearly everyone in a very happy and relaxed place," he says.

"At the time of writing Christmas is Here, I was surrounded by practising choirs and carollers, family busying themselves with festive traditions and it sprang from a happy realization that Christmas time was back again."

Available on iTunes and Amazon. You can also listen to it on kenya-kondo.com.

http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx - Edmonton Journal

CJSF radio host KP Wee interviews singer-songwriter Kenya Kondo on songwriting and life as a musician. - CJSF-KP Wee

CJSF radio host KP Wee interviews singer-songwriter Kenya Kondo on songwriting and life as a musician. - CJSF-KP Wee

Welcome to the TIR Indie Awards! The Indie Reviewer has selected the top songs and music videos as finalists. Now, it's up to the fans. You can vote for the best songs or music videos two different ways. Under the artist's page, there is a Facebook "Like" button and a Twitter button. Every Like or Tweet is one vote for that musician. You can vote for as many songs or videos as you like, so vote away! Winners will be announced October 15th. - The Indie Reviewer

Edmonton-based musician, Kenya Kondo, as his name suggests, grew up in Nairobi, Kenya, where he learned to play music on a guitar his mother had bought from a carpenter. He moved to Edmonton for University in 2001. I first heard Kondo when he opened Day 2 of Utopia Music Festival in June. This week, I had the opportunity to sit down with him to discuss his musical background, Edmonton’s music scene, and how he markets his music. Part one of the interview focuses on how Kondo started in music, and how Edmonton’s music scene contributed to his development as a musician. Part two will cover Kondo’s recent undertakings.
You can listen to the full interview (approximately 30 minutes) here:
Jenna: What inspired you to keep playing music while you were here at the U of A in Edmonton?

Kenya Kondo. Photo Credit: Orange Girl Photography
Kondo: I think it goes back to what got me into music. I never had a traditional music education – I didn’t go to any formal music programs. It was just the culture and environment I grew up in – music was a key part of that… I played [my Mom’s guitar] along with the radio, and just had a lot of fun with that… When I moved here, I was staying in Lister Hall. There was a whole bunch of other people who played guitar on the floor and we’d always be jamming and playing… It’s always been about enjoying the music and finding passion for it has always been a driving motivation.
Jenna: So, you’ve been in a couple bands – did you start bands with people you met in Lister or, how did that come about?
Kondo: I guess my first band was when I was in Kenya. There was a youth group my brother and I were involved in and there were annual concerts, so the first technical band I was in was my brother and myself. At the time I was so afraid of my voice, I would write the music and get my brother to sing it. I would play guitar and sit in the background. After that, I formed a second band. There was a talent competition happening nationally in Kenya, so I went to one of my other friends who is a really good vocalist … and I got him to join me – he sang and I wrote and played in the background. When I came here, after jamming with a few people, I decided to form my own band called Kitchen’s Passport and it was a collection of a bass player, guitar player, a keyboard player, a violinist, and a cello player… The impetus was a show happening for International Week on campus and we were invited to perform in it.
Jenna: Some people say that when they’re writing songs, it just comes from a place that’s not even, they can’t even claim it as their own, it just flows. Is that what your songwriting process is like?
Kondo: Yes, definitely. One example from this album is “Moses” … it just seems to come out of nowhere… It’s a song I didn’t second guess, I didn’t overanalyze it, I just wrote it as it came out and I could actually hear the melody as I was writing it out. Those are really cool moments as a songwriter… it’s almost effortless. When I wrote the song, I didn’t think it would have as much of an impact, I just thought “oh, it came out so quickly, no one’s going to like this type of song, it’s a dark song, it’s a sad song”… but as I played it more and more, it’s the song I’ve always gravitated back to.
Jenna: I think I’ve heard you say in other interviews that people tend to connect to the song “Moses” - What is it about that song that gives that reaction?
Kondo: I think, maybe it goes back to how I felt very self-conscious as a vocalist. There’s a lot of songs on this album that have hidden meanings… “Moses” again, was one of the songs that just came out – I didn’t censor myself as I was writing it. It came from a real and true place. I think the genuineness with the emotion and what I was saying and how I was saying it, maybe that’s what connects to people.
Jenna: How do you take this song, that you’ve written naturally, into the recording studio?
Kondo: “Moses” is an older song, so I’ve had the chance from the time I first wrote it to when it came out commercially to refine the delivery of the song… What changed is the title. When I first wrote the song, it was called “Brown Bottle” – but as I performed it more, it seemed the song was more about Moses, rather than the connection to alcoholism or addiction. The first time I recorded it was just in a home studio. Just trying to get a sense of what I could do to produce it commercially… What changed is the instrumentation. It is essentially a vocal and guitar track, but adding the drums, the bass, the piano to it helped flush it out a lot more.
Jenna: Just coming back to being in Edmonton, or having been in Lister, what do you think about Edmonton’s music scene?
Kondo: It’s just amazing how much there is in a place like Edmonton… Over the course of my first year, I realized just how much music and arts and culture the city had, it was really amazing… I’ve been in Edmonton now for about 10 years – the number of bands, the diversity of genre - Sound and Noise

No limits on Kondo's music-making horizons

Savvy local performer has used web to build international following

BY ROGER LEVESQUE, FREELANCE APRIL 14, 2011

As a child growing up in Kenya, he used to gaze at the stars and think about becoming an astronomer. These days, the Edmonton folk-pop singer Kenya Kondo is more focused on creating his own star.

When Kondo leads a trio to plug the release of his debut album Wait on Thursday at the Haven Social Club, it will sound a little different than the smooth L.A. session players he hired to produce the album. Either way, he appears to be on the right trajectory, bringing savvy marketing skills to his gift for writing and performing songs that have won him fans as far away as Brazil and Turkey.

"When I streamed songs from the album through my website it was really cool to get a response from some of the fans," Kondo explains. "And when I released the single (Welcome To My High), it was really exciting to find people from different parts of the world finding something in the music that they liked, that engaged them."

While the majority of songs revolve around the theme of relationships, a couple of tracks inspire broader, spiritual reactions. The title song Wait is a love song that can be taken different ways, and his older tune Moses spins a reflective mood from the time his father died, when Kondo was a recent newcomer to Canada, wondering if he was on the right path as a university student here.

"I don't mind if people bring other interpretations to the songs. It's always interesting to see how they come up with different ideas of what I'm talking about."

Kondo was born to a Kenyan mother and a Japanese father in Kenya's capital city Nairobi. While he gradually became conscious of indigenous East, Central and South African styles like soukous, his mother played western pop and Motown off the radio, and his father made a point of exposing the family to older rock 'n' roll like Elvis.

As a teenager, the desire to make music took him to the rank of finalist in a star search competition in Kenya, before distant horizons beckoned.

Kondo moved to Canada in 2001 to begin studies in astronomy at the University of Alberta and completed a degree in physics and math several years later, leading an acoustic jam/cover band in his spare time. He met the woman who became his wife and began working for the U of A International Centre, which led to his current position with the government of Alberta's section for international and intergovernmental relations.

That's his day job, but Kondo never lost touch with music, writing tunes, playing guitar and keyboards, crossing boundaries between rock, soul and acoustic ballads.

Kenya Kondo plays the Haven Social Club (15120 A Stony Plain Rd.) on Thursday. The Lucky Pennies open after 8 p.m. The cover is $10. - The Edmonton Journal

A forbidden guitar in Nairobi changed a local artist's life

by Kim Collins-Lauber
Photography by Orange Girl Photography

Kenya Kondo recalls the first time he plucked an out-of-tune string on his mom’s handmade acoustic guitar back home in Nairobi. “My mom wanted to learn how to make music, so she went to a carpenter and asked him to make her a guitar,” says the 31-year-old folk-pop artist. “At first, she was like, ‘Don’t touch that. It is something precious. It’s going to break!’”
But, one day, Kondo, then 15, gave into the forbidden guitar as it tempted him from the corner of a room. He picked it up and tried a few chords. “I didn’t know anything about guitars except that, somehow, six strings make music.”
His mom caught him strumming the black, red and yellow cutaway but didn’t stop him. While the guitar was still technically his mom’s, he played it all the time.
He entered a star search contest in Nairobi and made it to the finals, though the local newspaper gave his band an unflattering review. “They said I was trying to be Carlos Santana because of how I was dressed,” he recalls.
But when he left Kenya in 2001 to study math and physics at the University of Alberta, he left the guitar behind because he worried it wouldn’t survive the trip.
Thankfully, his floor mates at Lister Hall residences let him jam on their guitars until, a few months later, Kondo won a small Baby Taylor guitar in a draw at a local concert. “For me, this was a sign. I’m meant to continue with this,” he says. “Winning that guitar kept me going.”
Ten years later, Kondo’s debut album, Wait, is winning him fans for his straight-from-the-gut lyrics and melody that, at times, verges on alternative. The album records his emotional transition from Nairobi to Edmonton.
Kondo wrote “Moses,” a resonant song about an alcoholic relative sung with a raw intensity, on a Thursday after a physics class.
“Songs like ‘Moses’ talk about dealing with pain and trying to make sense of it.”
In March, Kondo, who also works for the Alberta Ministry of Advanced Education, and his three-member band were invited to perform during Canadian Music Week in Toronto and played at the inaugural Utopia Music Festival in Hawrelak Park last June.
Though Kondo now plays three different guitars, he’s still wistful about his first one.
“When I look back, it’s a very cheap-looking, bad-sounding guitar. But, from that, I was able to make, for my part, really good music.” - Avenue Magazine Edmonton

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Kenya Kondo's music spans countries, continents, emotions, and genres. His singer-songwriter type album, "Wait" is a melting pot of genres ranging from pop to rock, and folk to soul. Originally from Nairobi, Kenya, Kondo moved to Canada to attend the University of Alberta. The transition enabled him to collaborate with musicians from around the globe. The result is a 10 track album that is definitely worth a listen. Find more at http://www.kenyakondo.com/ - The Indie Reviewer

Kenya Kondo's music spans countries, continents, emotions, and genres. His singer-songwriter type album, "Wait" is a melting pot of genres ranging from pop to rock, and folk to soul. Originally from Nairobi, Kenya, Kondo moved to Canada to attend the University of Alberta. The transition enabled him to collaborate with musicians from around the globe. The result is a 10 track album that is definitely worth a listen. Find more at http://www.kenyakondo.com/ - The Indie Reviewer

Today on BalconyTV is Kenya Kondo singing us one of the most chill songs we've ever had on the balcony with his rendition of Cecilia, this ones a keeper!! - Balcony TV

Utopia Music Festival’s second day opened with Kenya Kondo’s catchy, rhythmic, feel-good songs. What I enjoyed most about Kondo’s performance was the passion his voice infused into the music – the occasional throaty growl emphasizing the narrative lyrics. - Sound and Noise

CBC's Radioactive speaks with Edmonton folk-pop singer Kenya Kondo about the release of his debut album "WAIT". (Full interview audio follows after link): http://www.cbc.ca/radioactive/episode/2011/04/14/kenya-kondo-album-release/ - CBC Radio

Fundraiser showcases cultural diversity on campus

by Steve Lillebuen


Kenya Kondo on stage at last year’s International Cultural Night.


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December 3, 2004 - The International Centre's Peer Program is hoping you'll welcome a new cultural experience by joining them on Sunday night for an evening of international song, dance, and food — with all proceeds supporting the International Student Emergency Bursary fund.

The International Centre’s Cultural Night takes centre stage on Sunday, Dec. 5 in Convocation Hall at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 for students, children, and seniors, or $10 for the general public, and can be purchased at the International Centre or at the door.

Kenya Kondo, an international student in his fourth year of a combined math and physics degree, has helped organize this year’s event. “One of our main aims is to celebrate the cultural diversity on campus,” he says. “We have over 14 performances ranging from solo to group acts from cultures across the world. One of the acts, the West African Drumming Ensemble, is actually taught as a class through the Department of Music.”

Other performances from the university’s international community include such diverse talents as breakdancing, classical piano, martial arts, and features well-known groups like Vohon, a Ukrainian dance troupe that has toured extensively overseas. With over 1,800 international students in undergraduate or graduate programs on campus, Cultural Night will display the spirit and vibrant international backgrounds that enrich the university community.

Cultural Night began five years ago when a group of international students approached the International Centre to start an annual cultural event. Dr. Enrique Garcia, who moved from Spain to study at the U of A and who now teaches in the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, was one of the original members that founded the event. “We started with very modest beginnings right in the lobby of the International Centre,” he recalls. “We wanted to give students a chance to share their backgrounds, talent, and skills with the community. And I’m happy with the way things have moved forward with the event.”

While celebrating the U of A’s diverse cultural heritage on campus is the motive behind the event, the hope is also to raise much needed funds for the International Student Emergency Bursary. The bursary helps international students that have suffered an unexpected financial emergency and will assists with funding necessities such as rent, food, and transportation. The fundraising drive began at last year’s event as part of a joint venture with the Campus Campaign, and continues this year as part of their ongoing efforts to support international students.

Cultural Night is again made possible by a dedicated team of international students from the Peer Program. Yokananth Sekar, a Peer Program leader who came to the U of A in September to begin a doctorate in medicine to research asthma, feels that we have a strong international community on campus, but events like Cultural Night are greatly needed because of a lack of interaction among groups.

“When we spoke with people who have lived in Edmonton for 30 or 40 years,” Sekar explains, “we found that there used to be a lot of interaction between international students and the community. But today, that interaction has decreased. That’s what they’re telling us — that there is a lack of communication between the local community and international students. So we really hope that having this annual event will bring some more interaction among the two groups.”

The event is sponsored by and features ethnic food generously donated from local Edmonton restaurants. Dr. Raj Pannu, MLA for Strathcona, and Dr. Usha Gupta, winner of the 2001 Outstanding Artist in the Community Award, will also be in attendance as special guests.

Related links — internal

The U of A International Website:
http://www.international.ualberta.ca/
To donate to the International Student Emergency Bursary:
http://www.giving.ualberta.ca/

Address of this ExpressNews article:
http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id=6235

- ExpressNews, University of Alberta