Inevitable at some point in the summer, ‘La bomba’ was written and composed by Bolivian Fabio Zambrana Marchett. But the explosion came king africafrom being the king of the beach bar to becoming the parsley of the ‘influencer’ parties. Mary Pombo. behind Alan Duffy (Buenos Aires, 1971) is very different from ‘tribal style’ tunics and comparative headdresses. A man studying electronics engineering quotes Schopenhauer on Instagram and loves rock and roll.
Everyone knows King of Africa. Not many for Alan Duffy.
I always count what is fair about the field. Let’s say I saw that the revelation of a private detail in the life of an elite athlete tarnished his reputation. My music is so white, I don’t mess with anyone, I don’t wave a flag. I’m just trying to make people happy. If King Afrika turns 30 this year, that’s why.
-What sister?
We are both good people.
-Let me do some research. His mother was a tango dancer.
-He was originally a Geography teacher and started giving tango lessons when he retired. She dances gracefully even today in her eighties.
-The taste comes from it music?
It comes from an uncle who plays classical guitar. I loved watching him rehearse. I started working at age 7 and was cheeky turning off secondary functions. When the Malvinas war happened in 1982, we stopped listening to British music and started absorbing Argentine rock.
-Fito Páez, Soda Estereo, Charly García, Los Rodriguez…
-Yes. And one day a friend gave me the first Police album ‘Outlandos d’Amour’. “Listen to this, it’s great,” he told me. Someone heard me sing Police and they invited me to be part of a band, Mondatta – ‘Zenyatta Mondatta’ was the third British album – and it would eventually play on Hard Rock in Buenos Aires, Mexico…
– What blocked the way to the rock?
– He made ‘jingles’ for television and radio commercials for the Argentine company Oíd Mortales. One day, when the party was gaining strength, they called me and told me they wanted to revive the King Africa project. They asked if I was interested, I said yes. “How will you do this?” said the men in the group to me. The bassist got mad at me. I was thinking of recording an album, period, but I went to the dark side.
– He eventually became Georgie Dann’s archenemy.
-I never! When I came to Spain in the late ’90s, everyone said to me, “You’re the new king of summer, you’ve dethroned Georgie Dann.” I had no idea who he was. I started researching and found that he was a great jazz clarinetist. I respected him a lot. His story was similar to mine.
– They met for the first time?
-Number. My manager had the idea to have a ‘show’ with two ‘kings of summer’ and he didn’t want to. It was as if they thought he was coming to steal their place.
–What is Pachanga’s defense?
-A ‘disc jockey’ friend used to say: “We are all very precious and very independent until the first band is formed”. Nobody danced ‘La Bomb’ but everybody knows it.
– Aren’t you tired of “soft, soft”?
-How will I be remembered? For the ‘bomb’! This is the seal of King Africa.
-Are you speaking privately?
-What I didn’t say on stage. At friends’ parties, 80’s and 90’s rock
Have you ever felt nostalgic for things that could and didn’t happen?
– What Sting did has already been done. There are millions who sing well and stay on nothing. It’s hard to do something that makes you different. And King Afrika gave me this opportunity. Dressing entertains me, I enjoy traveling. But most importantly, you know what?
-What?
-See the world! My mother had the opportunity to travel the world and she would always tell me, “You should travel, Alan.” I never thought I would end up in Kobe in Japan, where they chose ‘La Bomba’ for a campaign to clean up the beaches, and I finally did a 25-day tour.
-Now the ‘influencers’ are drawing.
-People are starting to relive the things that made them happy in their childhood. María Pombo, who organized Suavefest in Formigal in 2020, invited me to participate in a promotional video. The epidemic came and I could not do it until this year. I had a connection with him and his family. They are very good people. I was finally surprised at her sister Lucia’s wedding.
– It is encouraged to play in towns and shopping malls.
I do anything, anywhere. I learned from the president of the Argentine record label. “There is no small television, no radio, no newspaper, because you never know who is watching, hearing, reading you,” he said. And I add, there is no small town. On the day when I am not having fun, I will devote myself to playing music.