Versatile Amsterdam (Netherlands)-based musician Michel Conci is percussionist, songwriter, singer, and musical composer, specializing mainly in Reggae.
My name is Michel Conci. I was born in 1974, and live in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. I am of Italian-Spanish descent.
Music has always been important in my life and for my life, which I soon started to translate creatively by writing songs, instrumentals, and singing. At first tentative and experimental, I kept learning in the process, including about theory and patterns.
INSTRUMENTS
My first interests were MIDI and keyboard playing, while in a later stage I seriously started to study percussion instruments. This responded to my life-long interests for rhythmic and drum patterns.
I later in life had many lessons for mainly bongos and conga (along with Afro-Cuban patterns) from Dutch-Curaçaoan percussionist Vernon Chatlein, throughout 2014. Basic lessons I also had in African djembe and talking drum. I also was in a Netherlands-based Rastafari-inspired Nyabinghi group (Each One Teach One), including chanting and kete drumming, between 2014 and 2017. Other instruments I learned or am learning through self-study.
MUSICAL PREFERENCES
Soul and funk (Stevie Wonder, James Brown) I already enjoyed even as a small child. This soon expanded as I got to know other Black music. I especially developed a strong love for Jamaican Reggae music. Reggae became a specialized taste, but I kept an open mind.
My study of percussion helped me to delve more into both Afro-Cuban and (traditional) sub-Saharan African music, and realize even more the beauty of polyrhythms and clave-based music too. This made furthermore sense in relation to the African origins of Black music.
Several visits to Cuba between 2001 and 2006 already had increased my interest for specifically Afro-Cuban music.
Spanish Flamenco, Fandango and Jota music were other early influences on me (my mother hailing from the SW part of Spain), and I still appreciate aspects of Flamenco, yet as well other authentic forms of Folk music throughout the world, also outside of Africa (e.g. Celtic music, Amerindian, parts of Asia).
ACTIVITIES
Recording at home since young, I made connections with other musicians and studio owners, such as Robert Curiel, in whose reggae-minded Dubcellar studio in Amsterdam I recorded my reggae song Rastafari Live On in 2012, on a riddim (instrumental part) eventually created (mainly) and played by Curiel. I released this song in October 2012.
Since then I continue(d) to record at home, which came to include for instance instrumentals based on percussion - "percussion instrumentals". These compositions include various (often acoustic) percussion instruments played by me, mostly on a clave/polyrhythmic basis. These are often published online (e.g. YouTube). On occasion I also compose songs with (more) vocals and me singing, being mostly interested in lyrics with social messages.
So I continue my creative experimenting and free composing, albeit based on solid rhythmic and musical grounds, and meanwhile stay open for collaborations with other musicians and artists.
Song Info
Track Files
