Kifaru
Okay, lets get the meaning of the name out of the way first. It is taken from the Swahili language, & depending who translates, Kifaru means either Charging Rhinoceros or Rhinoceros. We prefer the first one as it gives it a bit of an edge!
We are a Reggae band from Coventry who came together as a 5 piece band in October 2004 who play 100% original material in a mixture of styles of Reggae. From the early roots style, through lovers rock and rockers up to modern ragga rhythms, with some ‘dub’ thrown in for good measure. In the music we also like to put our own twist, bringing Rock, Jazz, Punk, Funk and a Pop sensibility to the mix. So far we have recorded two albums worth of material, although we have another 130 songs waiting to be recorded!
We played our first gig in June 2005 at The Belgrade Theatre, Coventry as part of the Black awareness Festival. The band at this time comprised of Errol on Vocals, Jason on Bass, Paul & Skully on guitars with Stevo on drums. We are proud that, like Coventry’s most famous musical pioneers the Specials, we are a multi-cultural band as this seems to be a rarity in Reggae & Ska bands now.
The list of gigs includes many festival appearances, The Belgrade, Foleshill Festival (two years running) and a highly successful set on Friday night in the Rhythm Tent at the Godiva Festival 2006. We have also played The Jailhouse & Jumpin’ Jaks in Coventry and various venues around the Midlands supporting such Artists as Desmond Dekkers’ Aces, Delroy Williams, Dawn Penn, The Pioneers, Roddy Radiation (ex The Specials) & The Skabilly Rebels, The Rough Kutz & Too Hot.
We have suffered one line up change in our history, when our rhythm guitarist Skully left. We carried on as a four piece for a while with Errol playing rhythm guitar and singing. We eventually brought in a keyboard player, Sarah, to bring a much needed fullness to the sound
In August 2006 Kifaru were approached by producer David Lowe (Touch & Go, Dreamcatcher, Various TV theme tunes including the very striking BBC news theme music) to provide some authentic music for a BBC documentary series called Wild Caribbean, which was broadcast in January & February 2007. We contributed to two songs, the roots reggae style of Monkey movin’ ,which was featured in the final episode of the series, and So Hot which was released on the EMI soundtrack to the series and is an up-tempo Ska number. These can be found as sound-clips on our website.
Current Line Up:-
Errol – Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Jason – Bass
Paul – Lead Guitar
Sarah – Keyboards
Stevo – Drums
Contact Kifaru:- kifaruuk@yahoo.com 07904 369085
www.kifaru.co.uk
