Pyke, Pieter, Tienson, Jac, Gino, Bo, Sonny, Younes, Ko
Jungle by Night is like a spark. They shine a radiating light that can be felt when the band is on stage and this glow finds its way from their record into your heart too, like a durable source of energy that never seems to end. With enthusiasm, sweat, funk, history, this spark jumps up and right back down again and never seem to stop shining.
Jungle by Night consists of nine young lads from Amsterdam who use their musical upbringing, taste, backgrounds and unstoppable eagerness to produce a unique mix of Afrobeat, Ethiojazz, funk, dub and rock. The nine souls in Jungle by Night were acquainted through school, street and family bonds. Two years ago, the group seemed to be infected with a love for raw Africa oriented funk and retreated into the rehearsal studio. On a small outdoor festival in Amsterdam, a spark lit and hasn’t gone out so far. The band was invited to perform as the opening act at concerts of Mayer Hawthorne and The Roots & John Legend. They were guests in Paris at shows of musical godfathers Mulatu Astatke, Orchestre Poly-Ritmo de Cotonou on holy Fela-ground.
Former members of Fela Kuti’s backing band witnessed Jungle by Night play and had instant admiration for the young men. “At the end of the night they called us ‘the future of afrobeat’. Their words felt like a true blessing.’
Jungle by Night’s debut EP was received with positive reviews. Dutch renowned music website 3VOOR12 said “This completely instrumental debut of Jungle by Night is a great album for the summer”. Radio6 crowned the band Soul and Jazz talent and chose this EP as album of the week, just as 3VOOR12 did. Jungle by Night was invited to the popular daily TV show De Wereld Draait Door twice to fill the infamous one and a halve minute time slot.
There wasn’t a festival organizer unimpressed by Jungle by Night, so they were basically invited to all! Regardless if the festival was world music oriented like Music Meeting Nijmegen or Pole Pole Ghent, dance festivals like Pitch or Source, poppy like De Beschaving or Jazz minded like North Sea Jazz, Jungle by Night shook them all and conquered the hearts, minds and souls of the crowds. And of course they as well played Lowlands too, the largest festival in the Benelux. Kinkingthehabit.nl wrote on this performance: “Lowlands must be the climax of the Jungle by Night’s triumphal march through the Netherlands. This performance was the highlight of the first day of the Lowlands”.
Jungle by Night does not set any musical boundaries, the possibilities are infinite. The band members have individual interest and tastes in music. One likes psychedelic rock, others listen to hip hop and all lot of jazz, yet others get their kicks from reggae, latin and rock. All influences dwell down to the musical palette of Jungle by Night. “It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you do it with passion and soul,” thus Jungle by Night.
Jungle by Night’s spark still lights up at every show, in every tune they play. It has shown great accomplishments and lights the way to the future. What it will hold is undecided yet, but it definitely will be a blast.
