Jinja Safari was a self-produced and self-recorded band based in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

who drew from "afropop rhythms, (and) tumbling island guitar" to create African-inspired "dreamy folk pop, with a melodic richness comparable to acts like

Sufjan Stevens Sufjan Stevens ( ; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He has released ten solo studio albums and multiple collaborative albums with other artists. Stevens has received Grammy and Academy Award nomina ...

Animal Collective Animal Collective is an American experimental pop band formed in Baltimore County, Maryland. Its members consist of Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Geologist (Brian Weitz), and Deakin (Josh Dibb). The band's work is cha ...

and Sigur Ros". They were known for their energetic live shows.

History

Formed in 2010, Jinja Safari were initially a duo of Marcus Azon and Pepa Knight. The two met at a beach party on the Central Coast of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in early 2010.

Pepa lives on the coast, and I live in the city: so we tossed ideas back and forth across email after meeting over a beach campfire party earlier this year. We spent about 4 weekends recording all our ideas at his home studio, where he produced the tracks that we have now, which we're calling 'Forest Rock'. - Marcus Azon (Jinja Safari)

After their first show for friends and family in a coastal forest on the Central Coast of New South Wales on 1 May 2010, Jinja Safari were invited to support Miami Horror at the Manning Bar in Sydney for their first public show. By June 2010, Jinja Safari had received high rotation airplay on both national Australian broadcaster

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

and plays on UK's

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It primarily plays a wide range of alternative music, from established and emerging artists and bands. In 2002 it was the first national music radio station t ...

. In July 2010 they won the Triple J Unearthed competition, awarding the band a spot at

Splendour in the Grass Splendour in the Grass (commonly referred to as Splendour) is an annual Australian music festival held at the North Byron Parklands in Yelgun, New South Wales. Since its inauguration, the festival has also been held in various locations near ...

Festival 2010. Jinja Safari's first national Australian tour was supporting Art vs. Science in August 2010. Jinja Safari spent the majority of 2011 touring Australia, playing sold-out shows in support of their second EP, ''Mermaids & Other Sirens''. The five-track EP was released for free to fans, one song a month over five months. The band also toured Australia with both

Boy & Bear Boy & Bear are an Australian indie folk band formed in 2009, consisting of David Hosking (vocals and guitar), Killian Gavin (vocals and guitar), Tim Hart (drums, vocals, banjo, mandolin), Jonathan Hart (keys, synths, vocals), and David Symes ( ...

and

Menomena Menomena is an indie rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States, made up of Justin Harris and Danny Seim. Both members of the band share singing duties and frequently swap instruments while recording. In concert, Seim plays drums, while Ha ...

whilst continuing to be a mainstay at major Australian festivals in 2011, playing

Big Day Out The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typi ...

, Good Vibrations,

Falls Festival Falls Music & Arts Festival (commonly known as Falls) is a multi-day music festival held annually in Byron Bay (New South Wales) and Fremantle (Western Australia), Australia over the New Year's Eve and January period. The festival hosts contem ...

in that year. They have been nominated twice for "Best Live Music Act" in the Sydney Music, Arts & Culture Awards in 2010 and 2011 The Australian office of UK record label

Cooperative Music IASCooperative, formerly Cooperative Music, often referred to as Co-Op, was a group of indie labels based in the UK but that have offices around the world, owned by IAS Through their partner labels IASCooperative worked with artists such as ...

released a collection of Jinja Safari's first and second EPs entitled ''Locked By Land'', as the label's first local release. New single "Sunken House" was added to playlist rotation on Triple J less than a month before the band sold out their largest show to-date, the 1200 capacity Metro Theatre in Sydney. Jinja Safari were invited to perform their UK debut at Europe's leading festival for new music,

The Great Escape Festival The Great Escape Festival is a four-day music festival held in Brighton and Hove, England every year in May. It is operated by MAMA Festivals and showcases new music from a variety of genres. The festival was founded in 2006 and hosts roughly ...

in May 2012.

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

DJ and label head of Sunday Best Records

Rob Da Bank Robert John Gorham (born 24 June 1973 in Portsmouth, Hampshire), known by the pseudonym Rob da Bank, is an English DJ and co-founder of music festivals Bestival, originally on the Isle of Wight and now moved to Lulworth, Dorset and Camp Bes ...

named the band's sound as a "''cosmic pop safari''", playing the band's song "Mermaids" on his BBC Radio 1 program and inviting the band to play at

Bestival Bestival was a four-day music festival held in the south of England. The name Bestival is a portmanteau of the words best and festival. It had been held annually in the late summer since 2004 at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight. In 2017 the festi ...

2012.

Name

Jinja Safari is named after the East African town of Jinja, in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

I grew up in Tasmania and my grandmother lives in Uganda, in the town of Jinja - so for some reason I always felt the connection to the music of Africa, and how, despite the oppressions of countless dictatorships, genocide and apartheid, the people of Africa always found a way to smash a drum, yelling with a giant smile, dancing barefoot in the dirt. - Marcus Azon (Jinja Safari)

Discography

Albums

EPs

References

External links

Jinja Safari Myspace
{{Authority control Australian indie rock groups Musical groups established in 2010 New South Wales musical groups 2010 establishments in Australia