United Flavour

Biography

As the first impulse for foundation of the multi-cultural band called United Flavour can be considered the arrival of two founder members – singer and composer Carmen (Spain) and bass player, composer and producer Djei (Ivory Coast) – to the Czech Republic. They were so excited by the atmosphere in Prague during their first visit here that they both decided to move to Prague in the second half of the 90´s. After a short adaptation period, both Carmen and Djei joined the Czech cultural scene and...

As the first impulse for foundation of the multi-cultural band called United Flavour can be considered the arrival of two founder members – singer and composer Carmen (Spain) and bass player, composer and producer Djei (Ivory Coast) – to the Czech Republic. They were so excited by the atmosphere in Prague during their first visit here that they both decided to move to Prague in the second half of the 90´s. After a short adaptation period, both Carmen and Djei joined the Czech cultural scene and started to collaborate with local and foreign musicians. In spring 2004 they decided to found United Flavour.

Different cultural influences of Spain, Africa and Central Europe in the UF music have been moulded into an energetic mix of several musical styles - reggae, latino, soul, hiphop, R&B and dancehall. Through their performances, the band wants to convey that people of different nationalities, origins, faiths and beliefs can work together without problems, conflicts or violence. Moreover, they can mutually enrich each other. The UF lyrics reflect the same idea.

The first studio recording, an eight-song demo EP, was issued in June 2005 and gained a great reception from both general public and critics. The single Revolution became a Top 10 hit in the charts on the radio channels. It was successful enough to deserve its own compilation called Revolution Project which contains remixes by various Czech and foreign artists. Between fall 2006 and spring 2007 the band were hard at work writing and recording their debut CD. The long-awaited album was named UNITY and released under the SubPub Records label in June 2007. Many interesting local and foreign guests accepted the invitation to feature on the album. Amongst these were King Kalabash & Baron Black aka Big Famili from the Caribbean island of Martinique, the Slovak singer Tina, rapper Henry D or latino deejay El Condorsito from Chile. A DVD called Live at Lucerna Music Bar was released on the same day as the UNITY album. It is a concert recording from May 2006 when United Flavour opened the concert of the German reggae star Gentleman.

Since the band was formed, United Flavour have been busily performing both in the Czech Republic and abroad. During four years they got the opportunity to open concerts to international stars such as Kelis, Gentleman, Manu Chao, WARD 21, Alborosie or Shaggy. Within the last two years' successful concerts the band played also in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Poland and Slovakia. They also contributed to the majority of the Czech festivals with their colourful performances. In December 2007 United Flavour had big club tour all over the Czech Republic. In May, the band placed 2nd in a contest opened for bands from six European countries called International Live Award. During summer season, United Flavour performed at more than twenty festivals in the Czech Republic and abroad (Wiesen Sunsplash – Austria, Ostroda reggae festival - Poland, Uprising festival – Slovakia and others).

The spring 2009 United Flavour had given eleven concerts within the successful club tour across the Czech and Slovak Republics scoring more than 4.000 visitors.


Flavour backing band

United Flavour have been working and improving different music styles from its beginning and its musicians cooperated with various artists as well. This philosophy can be considered as the motion for setting up their own backing band, and start playing with different artists in the Czech Republic and abroad. Flavour backing band was set in 2008 and, in its still short history, managed to back up artists such as Ward 21 (Jamaica), Big Famili (Martinique), YT (England) and others. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.