Where do you go to find European white “boyz” who eat, breathe, sing, personify and embody everything hip-hop, soul, r &b and African? You go to Polish pop group “Afromental.” Nominated for the 2010 MTV Europe Music Awards, here is how the group tells their story:
“All that jazz started in springtime when Tomson met Wozz (or Wozz met Tomson. . .who knows). They started with singing. Then, they played guitars, mouth-organs and the beatbox. The art of the last one was perfected by Tomson – Afromental’s vocalist. So here they are, two of them singing with dj’s to some instrumentals. . . It all sounded great, so they decided to find some musicians to join them and make something out of it. So, our boys went to Gama Festival in Ko–obrzeg and. . .
They got through to the final top ten of the festival. Their performance was shown on Polsat (one of the most popular Polish tv-channels). They gathered many positive opinions. – If people liked it, we should find musicians to create a band – said Wozz, one of the vocalists.
This duet won in the Gazeta Olszty–ska Contest of Young Performers. Before they had completed collecting other members of the band, they appeared also in the eliminations of Students’ Songs Festival in Cracovia. And they won them.
Afromental took part in this contest,but, unfortunately, they turned out to be mistaken, because all other bands were singing poems. But it was in Cracovia that they have played for the first time as a complete Afromental, with all its members. At all, they got distinction prize.
And that’s the way it started! They kept performing around Poland and working on new projects.
After all this, they were chosen from 300 applying bands to perform in the final 6 of Sopot “Top Trendy” Festival.
On 12.10.2007 with the mediation of Pomaton EMI they published their first CD called “The Breakthru”.
Afromental’s music is fascinating, because of its softness, ligthness, rhythm, professionalism and arrangements. It’s a tremendous mix of soul, r’n’b and hip hop, but in a bit other meaning that Polish people find it, as in Poland hip hop is associated only with boys from gray blocks of flats.”
We think it is absolutely hilarious how Polish natives stare at ‘Afromental’ as they perform in the streets of Poland in the second video below, ‘unplugged.’ Enjoy.
Founded in 2007, Ladybrille® Magazine is a California based pioneer digital publication demystifying the image of Africans in the west through contemporary African fashion and celebrating the brilliant woman in business and leadership, with an emphasis on the African woman in the diaspora. Our coverage includes stories on capital, access to markets, expertise, hiring and retention, sales, marketing, and promotions.
