Mahabongo

Mahabongo is a new band, brought together in 2007 by Matthew Clark (b. 1956), a Brighton-based (U.K.) musician who writes songs, sings and plays guitar (and some bamboo flute). Their first album, Swish It’s Everywhere, was released on 17th June 2008 on a new, independent record label, mahabongo.com. The ten songs on this album were selected from Matthew Clark’s wide repertoire of songs. Swish It’s Everywhere features some very talented musicians who have worked with a wide range of contemporary pop and jazz artists (details are available on the Mahabongo website, www.mahabongo.com). The album is available to purchase, download and to listen to at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/mahabongo.

David Abram: clarinet, flute; Dean Brodrick: keyboards; Matthew Clark: guitars, vocals; Fergus Gerrand: percussion; Flaky Jake: accordion; Greg Lester: additional electric guitar; Ed Macdonald: additional percussion; Luvain Maximen: backing vocals; Franc O’Shea: bass; Butch Thomas: saxophone; Dan Thornton: producer and engineer; Darby Todd: drums.

Mahabongo’s music is vocal pop/jazz, with melodic songs enhanced by slick, jazz soloing.

Between 1988 and 1996, Matthew Clark made five albums of his songs, recorded on an 8-track machine. These albums were produced as cassettes but were never officially released, though a few tracks from the albums had minor airplay on local radio stations, in the UK, France and Hawaii.

Matthew Clark returned to university (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) in 1998, and gained an MA and PhD. He periodically lectures on Hinduism, philosophy, and the history and background of yoga, and has published several articles and a book on aspects of Hinduism.