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BLÅ KONGO - WHY DO WE DO IT?
Blå
Kongo is no ordinary band, believe me I'm in it and I know. Everyone
in the band has got their own ideas about how to do things, their
own strange quirks, emotional outbursts and moody silences; we're
all a bit crazy as well. We argue and get mad at each other, we
sometimes feel like chucking it all in but still after 2 ½
years we're together. I wonder why.
Life
could be so much easier without Blå Kongo, just think: no
band rehearsals when we're hungover or tired or hungry; no more
hauling equipment to and from gigs, no arguing over money or calling
each other frantically before a gig saying "we're lost!"
"we've broken down!" or "what time was the sound
check again?". Imagine not having to wait another three hours
between a sound check and a gig, or not needing to call Maria's
dad or Per's friend asking "can we borrow the car again?"
People who aren't in bands must have such a simple and trouble free
life!
Oh
yeah, there was something I nearly forgot: the actual music. In
the centre of the madness is the reason why we are together. When
we do manage to get up on stage and play a gig it's an amazing feeling
and other people seem to like it to. It feels like a massive release
from everything. As long as we keep playing gigs I think I could
keep going for another 2 ½ years.
BLÅ KONGO - The history
Maria
Carlman having written a pile of brilliant songs, decided to start
a band. Pelle Walgren (drummer) came first, and he called Dee Byrne,
an English sax player who was new on the scene. Maria Kvist came
next, Pelle and Dee had just met her that summer and loved her piano
playing. It took a lot longer to find Per Björling, we went
through a few bass players first, and then finally Pelle found Per.
The strange thing is that although Pelle found the members of Blå
Kongo for Maria, he then left us to study music down south. The
last link in the chain was Johan Hallberg, the drummer from hell.
Maria's
music plus the members of the band is a winning combination. Maria's
songs are about real life, about things that everyone can relate
to: feelings of wanting to run away, insecurity in the first stages
of love, feeling hungover after new years eve and wanting to be
best. Although the songs come from Maria, the band together brings
them to life. (Look in the diary
for more stories!)
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