AfuriKo

AfuriKo – a Japanese portmanteau word combining Afurika (アフリカ) and the suffix -ko (子), which means “child” – is an African-infused jazz duo comprised of percussionist Akiko Horii and pianist Jim Funnell. Together, they offer a joyful, hybrid dialogue, in which the freedom of jazz improvisation allows itself to be shaped by the orderly, cosmological nature of African drumming — like a griot walking a tightrope. On stage and in the studio, a special connection gently unfolds as the djembe’s ancestral stories seamlessly integrate with the modern harmonic colours of the keyboards.

Their first two albums – On the Far Side (2014) and Style (2016) – were produced with the support of SACEM (the French Society of Authors, Composers, and Music Publishers). Their third opus Tao (2019), successfully funded on Kickstarter and released to critical acclaim with reviews on London Jazz News, All About Jazz, and Festival Peak, is a shamanic jazz journey from ancestral Africa to NYC, steeped in deep grooves with shades of Funk, Pop, Reggae, Bulgarian, and Enka music.

The duo was featured on Congahead and has toured extensively in the UK (London Jazz Festival, Ronnie Scott’s, Vortex Jazz Club), Japan (Kanazawa Jazz Street, Big Apple), the United States (ShapeShifter Lab, Rockwood Music Hall), France (Le Baiser Salé, Sunset Sunside Jazz Club), Estonia (Philly Joe’s), Uruguay (Jazz a la Calle), Nepal (Kathmandu Jazz Festival), South Korea (Jazz Alley), and many other countries across Western and Eastern Europe.