Funky Elephant
Encyclopedia
Funky Elephant is an annual springtime music festival
in Helsinki
, Finland
. It's dedicated to a vast variety of styles within black rhythm music
. Genres represented include funk
, soul
, Hip hop
, jazz
, Latin
, reggae
, afrobeat
etc. Funky Elephant has been organized since 1994.
The festival is held at Tavastia Club
and its smaller sub-club downstairs, Semifinal. The clubs are located in the very center of Helsinki.
During the years, the festival has had such performers as
Plus, many highly acclaimed DJs
of the genre.
Overall, the festival has had over 100 live performances and over 70 DJs.
The organizer is Funky Amigos, which is a non-profit association. Its aim is to enhance the status of modern rhythm music scene and its artists in Finland. In wider prospect, Funky Amigos also wants to encourage multi-culturality and tolerance.
Other Funky Amigos' events include
Besides these, Funky Amigos randomly organizes other events depending on its resources. The goal is to have some kind of activity going on all year-round.
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. It's dedicated to a vast variety of styles within black rhythm music
African American music
African-American music is an umbrella term given to a range of musics and musical genres emerging from or influenced by the culture of African Americans, who have long constituted a large and significant ethnic minority of the population of the United States...
. Genres represented include 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...
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, 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...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, Latin
Latin American music
Latin American music, found within Central and South America, is a series of musical styles and genres that mixes influences from Spanish, African and indigenous sources, that has recently become very famous in the US.-Argentina:...
, 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...
, afrobeat
Afrobeat
Afrobeat is a combination of traditional Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, funk and chanted vocals, fused with percussion and vocal styles, popularised in Africa in the 1970s. Its main creator was the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who gave it its name, who used it to...
etc. Funky Elephant has been organized since 1994.
The festival is held at Tavastia Club
Tavastia Club
The Tavastia Club is a popular rock music club in Helsinki, Finland. The house is owned by Hämäläis-Osakunta, one of the student nations at the University of Helsinki, but since 1991 the club has been operated by a private enterprise renting the house from the nation. It is located in central...
and its smaller sub-club downstairs, Semifinal. The clubs are located in the very center of Helsinki.
During the years, the festival has had such performers as
- Sharon Jones & the Dap-KingsSharon Jones & The Dap-KingsSharon Jones & the Dap-Kings are a funk/soul band. They are signed to Daptone Records, where the Dap-Kings are the house band. They are spearheads of a revivalist movement that aims to capture the essence of funk/soul music as it was at its height in the mid-1960s to mid-1970s...
- Roy AyersRoy AyersRoy Ayers is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer and vibraphone player. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped pioneer jazz-funk .- Biography :Ayers...
- Joe BataanJoe BataanJoe Bataan is a Filipino-African American Latin R&B musician from New York.- Early life and career :...
- Pucho & the Latin Soul Brothers
- Tony AllenTony Allen (musician)Tony Oladipo Allen is aNigerian drummer, composer, and songwriter who currently lives and works in Paris. He is currently writing his autobiography "Tony Allen: Master Drummer of Afrobeat" with author/musician Michael E...
- DJ VadimDJ VadimDJ Vadim is a prolific DJ and producer, born in Leningrad, USSR , raised in London and currently residing in both New York and Berlin, whose music combines hip hop, soul, reggae and electronica...
& One Self
Plus, many highly acclaimed DJs
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
of the genre.
Overall, the festival has had over 100 live performances and over 70 DJs.
The organizer is Funky Amigos, which is a non-profit association. Its aim is to enhance the status of modern rhythm music scene and its artists in Finland. In wider prospect, Funky Amigos also wants to encourage multi-culturality and tolerance.
Other Funky Amigos' events include
- The Funk Awards, a gala event to give recognition to those Finns who have kept the scene showcased domestically. Held annually since 2000.
- The Baby Elephant Tour, a chance for the lesser-known, up and coming Finnish artists to tour clubs around Finland.
Besides these, Funky Amigos randomly organizes other events depending on its resources. The goal is to have some kind of activity going on all year-round.