Irie Maffia
Encyclopedia
Irie Maffia is a Hungarian
band
formed in 2005. Their music
is based on reggae
and dancehall
, which they blend with hip hop
, funk
and rock
. The band also has a sound system formation (Irie Maffia Soundsystem), where András Kéri (aka MC Columbo) sings ragga
lyrics on the reggae/dancehall riddim
s played by band leader Márton Élő (aka Dermot) and Gáspár Horváth (aka Jumo Daddy)from vinyl records.
The full house release party of the Mafia’s first LP, Fel a kezekkel! (Hands In The Air), took place on A38, a party boat in Budapest, in December, 2007.
To make the most of the success, the Maffia went on tour to several European destinations, amongst which was the Italian Rototom Sunsplash in 2007, probably the greatest reggae competition of the continent. They came in second.
Irie Maffia's first video clip, shot for their most popular song, "Hands In The Air", came out by the spring of 2008.
In autumn 2008 the Irie Maffia is one of the 5 nominees for MTV European Music Awards Local Hero, the voting is now on.
The band's sound system formation holds weekly club nights in Corvintető, offering reggae music to the Tuesday night audience of the venue.
Having fulfilled the requirements of Dutch/foreign trustees, the Maffia took part in Amsterdam's My City Budapest Festival, an event featuring the most important Hungarian bands. They were also asked to participate in a festival in Rovereto, Italy, celebrating the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I, to which each European country's national radio station contributed one band.
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
formed in 2005. Their music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
is based on reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
and dancehall
Dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably,...
, which they blend with hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
, funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
. The band also has a sound system formation (Irie Maffia Soundsystem), where András Kéri (aka MC Columbo) sings ragga
Ragga
-Origins:Ragga originated in Jamaica during the 1980s, at the same time that electronic dance music's popularity was increasing globally. One of the reasons for ragga's swift propagation is that it is generally easier and less expensive to produce than reggae performed on traditional musical...
lyrics on the reggae/dancehall riddim
Riddim
Riddim is the Jamaican Patois pronunciation of the English word "rhythm," but in dancehall/reggae parlance it refers to the instrumental accompaniment to a song. Thus, a dancehall song consists of the riddim plus the "voicing" sung by the deejay. The resulting song structure may be taken for...
s played by band leader Márton Élő (aka Dermot) and Gáspár Horváth (aka Jumo Daddy)from vinyl records.
History and present
Their first recording in 2006 made use of a dancehall riddim, the Rodeo riddim (formerly made popular by the mighty Seeed), which was released by Germaica Records, Europe’s leading reggae/dancehall record company.The full house release party of the Mafia’s first LP, Fel a kezekkel! (Hands In The Air), took place on A38, a party boat in Budapest, in December, 2007.
To make the most of the success, the Maffia went on tour to several European destinations, amongst which was the Italian Rototom Sunsplash in 2007, probably the greatest reggae competition of the continent. They came in second.
Irie Maffia's first video clip, shot for their most popular song, "Hands In The Air", came out by the spring of 2008.
In autumn 2008 the Irie Maffia is one of the 5 nominees for MTV European Music Awards Local Hero, the voting is now on.
The band's sound system formation holds weekly club nights in Corvintető, offering reggae music to the Tuesday night audience of the venue.
Having fulfilled the requirements of Dutch/foreign trustees, the Maffia took part in Amsterdam's My City Budapest Festival, an event featuring the most important Hungarian bands. They were also asked to participate in a festival in Rovereto, Italy, celebrating the 90th anniversary of the end of World War I, to which each European country's national radio station contributed one band.
Members
- Sena Dagadu - vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, rapRapRap may refer to:*Rapping, performance in which rhyming lyrics are used, with or without musical accompaniment ; while an MC performs spoken verses in time to a beat/ melody**Hip hop subculture**Hip hop music... - András Kéri aka MC Columbo - vocals, rap
- István Busa aka Papa Diamont - rap
- Ákos Baranyai aka DJ Future - turntableTurntablismTurntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer.The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer...
- Tamás Dési aka Monsieur Büdoá - drumDrumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s - Ádám Meggyes aka Mézeságyas - trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
- Márton Élő aka Dermot - tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
- Gáspár Horváth aka Jumo Daddy - keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
- Miklós Havas aka Doktor úr - bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Ádám Szekér - guitar
- Antal Oláh aka Monsieur Zsömoá - percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
Discography
- Geller EP - 2006
- Fel a Kezekkel! / Hands In The Air! - 2008
- What's my name? - 2009
Videos
- Hands In The Air - 2008
- Slow Down Chale - 2009
Appearances
- Rototom Sunsplash (Udine, Italy) - 2007, 2008
- My City Budapest (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) - 2008
- Sentiero Di Pace (Path Of Peace) Festival (Rovereto, Italy) - 2008
- Red Bull Music Clash: Irie Maffia vs. Magna Cum Laude (Miskolc, Hungary) - 2008