BIO & REVIEWS

"A multicultural jive so dizzying it exceeds the limitations of one stage".....San Francisco Bay Guardian

!AKimbo Bio

What's the recipe for a spicy, fresh, and an eclectically manic experience? Take African rhythms, reggae, and calypso, blend them with Western pop, beautiful harmonies, and some wild and crazy dancing, and you've got the critically-acclaimed band !Akimbo! The 7 members of !Akimbo!, together for 7 years, have captivated audiences at major festivals and clubs in the area including San Francisco Mardi Gras, The High Sierra Music Festival, California World Music Festival, Sacramento Heritage Festival, The Palms Playhouse, Valhalla Arts and Music Festival, Whole Earth Festival, and the Real Goods Solfest. They have also been nominated 6 consecutive years for a Sacramento Area Music Award (SAMMIE), and have received great reviews from the music press. The band has released 3 self-produced CD's, listed below. !Akimbo has appeared on bills with Holly Near, Laura Love, Kotoja and Jim Page.

Personnel:

Melissa Frago: Vocals, Sax, Penny Whistle Dianna Craig: Vocals
Kurt Roggli: Guitar Phil Summers: Bass
Shawn King: Percussion, Didgeridoo Jeff Devine: Drums/ Vocal
Jeremy Kurn: Keyboards

Discography

!AKimbo 1996
Here With Us 2000
Bones Don't Lie 2003

Reviews From the Press

The Beat (National World Music Magazine):
" Davis, CA-based world beat band !Akimbo boasts an indefatigable sense of fun on Bones Don't Lie (!Akimbo). Thanks to Phil Summers' guitar and bass, Jeff Kreuger Devine's drums, and the rest of a tight rhythmic outfit, the band has a beautiful touch with authentic-sounding African pop songs. "!Akimbo" flaunts an enthusiastic South African township style complete with Dianna Craig, Melissa Frago and Linda Deering on....what's that, Japanese language vocals? Why not! The title cut makes the case why these West Coasters can stake a claim to the music of another continent, since we can all trace our ancestors back to Africa via Louis Leakey's Lucy and other early humans. Bones certainly don't lie, and neither do Shawn King's skins via a percussion solo on this highly pleasurable album"

San Francisco Bay Guardian:
"Mixing German, Gaelic, Navajo, Russian, and French lyrics with didgeridoo's, conga drums, and penny whistles, Davis-based !Akimbo expand the definition of world beat from its trademark Afro-Caribbean rhythms into a multicultural jive so dizzying that it exceeds the limitations of one stage."

The Beat:
" !Akimbo live would be a blast. Those who like their world music influences shaken, not merely stirred, should give these Californians a try "

Music and Sound (2000):
"A unique listening experience"

Dirty Linen (International World Music magazine):
"!Akimbo's world fusion sounds as effortless as it does jubilant"

Steve Milne from KXJZ
" Akimbo, the Sacramento area's premier world music band, just keeps getting better and better. Akimbo prove they can handle intricate rhythms that move the body as well as write attractive melodies that inspire us to sing"
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Sacramento Magazine:
" !Akimbo blends soukous, Afro-beat, zydeco, reggae, Celtic and rock beats into a refreshing new mix. The result is a richly layered, and by turns hauntingly emotive and irresistibly upbeat type of music that moves your soul while begging your feet to dance"

Dirty Linen (International World Music magazine):
" !Akimbo is a tight, creative young band that sounds like they would have no trouble filling the dance floor all night long"

Sacramento News and Review:
"intoxicating.......!AKIMBO effects a new American-born and bred world beat music that owes as much to the sound of Fleetwood Mac and Talking Heads as it does to African and Caribbean beats".

Alive and Kicking:
" one great number after another. the playing, production and singing are top notch..good stuff".