The cowbells are tingling, percussion is soothing,
the bongo’s are beating and the djembe is pounding like a bass driven
heartbeat penetrating each and every one of your sound buds. Put the
delicious rhythmic sounds, with a pinch of live element, all thrown into
a melodious music blender, and there you have the perfect house
accompanying cocktail of the man they call Mr Bongolicious.
The infectious sounds generated by the lightning
fast hands of Mr Bongolicious tapping away at his instruments, are to
put it simply, too good to resist, and he does it with such ease. It
makes you wonder, how can a musician of just four years play with such
perfection? The answer is simple. “Music is my everything”, he quotes,
with eyes wide open like a child drawn to candy.
Music has always been a part of the maestro’s life.
Growing up in inner Sydney, the young Mr Bongolicious was exposed to a
cocktail of multicultural, as well as various genres of music. It was
his ability to combine these different elements of each genre which made
Mr Bongolicious so unique, and it didn’t go unnoticed.
After dominating the Australian club scene with
flawless performances at Allumbra (Melbourne), Dragonfly, Sapphire
Suite, Gold Fish, The Eastern, as well as a list so long it would fill a
phone directory ten times over, it was time for the Mr of the bongos to
take global centre stage. But was the world ready for him? Apparently
so!
In 2009, so early in his career, Mr Bongolicious was
asked to play at the world famous Buddha Bar New York, where his DJ
idol Miguel Migs and his percussion god Chovelly had also featured.
Strutting through the crowd, djembe (African Drum) strapped to him like a
time drum ready to explode, he let loose! This triggered a string of
side performances spanning from the U.S. to the famous party
destinations of the Greek Islands.
“To play overseas was such a buzz, I mean after
playing the Budda Bar gig, the sideshows and the gig at Club Paradiso
Mykonos, I knew I was ready to take it up that extra notch, here in
Australia.”, he smirks, and we do not doubt that for one moment. 2010 is
shaping up to be the biggest year yet for the bongo maestro with a
string of live performances, both national and international on the
cards, as well as dedicated studio time alongside Sydney producer I Am
Sam, you know that Mr Bongolicious is here to stay.
When he states his favourite quote “I’m addicted to
success”, you can see in his bright brown eyes that he means business,
and to put it quite simply, his addiction to success allows him the
ability to go hand in hand with music. You begin to wonder, a world with
Gin and no tonic, cookies with no cream, a Big Mac with no fries and
well… music with no Mr Bongolicious? Mmmmmm… ‘I’ll have fries with
that!’
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