The History

The Beat Mongers formed in march1999 when the founding members Chiedu Anyia and Gianalberto Keifner were still at secondary school. Chiedu was already entering the world of music composition/production while studying music GCSE and Gianalberto was becoming a big fan of the club music scene and building quite a large music collection of various genres.
The 2 were already friends but came together musically during a double science lesson. While they were doodling and discussing ideas for album covers, they began thinking about the music to go with them.
They started converting their ideas into sounds using the very old (and battered) Atari ST computers which Chiedu normally used for creating his music course work.
They moved on to a local youth music studio called ‘EC1 Music project’ where they were introduced to many other young musicians and artists while also using the college facilities where Chiedu studied audio production and Gian studied Engineering. They soon joined forces with other artists at EC1 such as Yilmaz Korkmaz aka AK09, a Turkish rapper/producer

In 2004 they created a basement studio in Hoxton (east central London) where they worked and have since produced and independently released test/ promo albums.
Although being producers predominantly, the Beat Mongers have also performed a number of live sets and PA's with their affiliate artists at various lonodn venues including Jamm Bar in Brixton, the Spot in Covent Garden, Wkd in Camden, Aquarium in Old street and even some Live open mic sessions on Capital FM radio.

Future Goals:
To release more albums either independently or through wider reaching record labels.
To gain further recognition in the urban/dance music side of industry.
To work with other established artists.
To become more established as artists in their chosen musical genres.
To broaden their fan base.

Influences
The Beat Mongers draw influences from many different styles including jazz, disco, funk, classical, blues, drum and bass, house, hip hop and neo soul.
Listing all the specific artists, tracks & DJs that influence them would be impossible but here’s a rough idea

Hip hop:
Everything from the old skool to bboy funk breaks to the Lyricist
Lounge MCs like Mos Def and Faro Monch, Big L, others like Slum Village,
Dilated Peoples, Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Beastie Boys, Jurassic 5
Gangstarr, producers like J Dilla, Pete Rock, Neptunes, DJ premier, Timbaland, DJ clue and the list goes on.  
UK MC's include: Rodney P, Sway, Skinnyman, Klashnikoff, Taskforce, Pirelli, professor green, Mystro and many more

R&B:
Mainly the Neo soul side of things e.g.  Angie Stone, Jill Scot, Raphael Siddique, Erica Badu, Dwele and Music Soul Child.

Garage/grime/uk funky:
Mj Cole, Artful Dodger, Dreem Teem, Ez, Wide Boys, Wookie, Crazy Cousins, Coolie G, Boy Better Know, Logan Sama, Skepta, Dirty Goods Trackheads ……

Drum & Bass:
London Electricity, Shy FX, Hi Contrast, LTJ Bukem, Calibre, Fabio, Grooverider, Dj Hype, Uncut, Roni Size……

House:
The Deeper soulful and jazzy side e.g. Kerri Chandler, BRS, Jihad Muhammad, Denis Ferrer, blue six, studio apartment, Ame, Nick Holder, John Cutler, MAW, Quentin Harris, Peven Everett and almost anything on the defected label

Breakz:
Anything from the Distinctive Breakz label, Plump djs, Stanton
Warriors, Hybrid, Way Out West and more
Broken Beat/ Jazz Funk, others: 4 Hero, Kyoto Jazz Massive, Bugz In The Attic, minus 8, Reel people, Domu, DJs like Gilles Peterson, Patrick Forge etc

Dubstep: dj Distance, Casper, Roscoe, Mark1, Plastician

Other styles that continue to influence us include funk, blues & jazz: earl hines, ray charles, miles davis, dexter gordon etc
 
the list is way too long!!!


Members/affiliates
Chiedu Anyia aka Jazzman, Beatmonger, Beatmaster Jazz, (and quite a few other ridiculous names) is a Producer/Arranger, Engineer and Musician. He got in to music at school where he picked up a number of instruments including the trombone and (embarrassingly) the recorder. He eventually developed a passion for Drumming and the Piano.
Chiedu’s inspirations comes from many musical styles including UK Garage, Drum N Bass, Hip Hop, R&B, House, Trance, Chill-Out, Broken Beat, Hip Hop, Old Skool Breaks and Jazz, Funk and classical.
Chiedu tends to bring Jazzy improvisations and intricate chord progressions to the BMs music

Gianalberto Kiefner aka GK, General Berto & Hannibal Karachi is a Producer/Arranger, and Musician. Ironically Gian was not allowed to listen to anything other than classical and jazz music at a young age. he got his 1st introduction to ‘modern’ music whilst in Germany where he became fascinated by Gabba and European Techno. (Later this was slowly but progressively slapped out of him by Chiedu). His taste for dance music eventually moved towards a more soulful house/ukg/urban direction. Gian takes influences from everything he has ever heard EVER (yes, that includes the Vengaboys*). He enjoys everything from the Classical and Jazz artists such as Bach, Scarlatti, Handel; Earl Hines, Dexter Gordon, Cannonball Adderley, Art Blakey and Gene Krupa to other modern artists/dj’s like Polar Bear, Nick Holder, BRS, Universal Robot Band, Shalamar, Axus, LTJ Bukem, Gilles Peterson, John Beltran, Fela Kuti, Imam Baildi and the Dreem Teem. The list barely scratches the surface… *Vengaboys Not Included
His musical style focuses (though not exclusively) on syncopated percussive rhythms, strong sub basses, LFOs & a jazz sensibility

Other Artists
Yilmaz Korkmaz aka “AK09” is  a Turkish rapper, producer & event organiser and has worked closely with Chiedu & Gian for a number of years featuring on several tracks and co-producing 'Back to Autumn'. He has also released several albums and singles within the London Turkish community in his own right. Yilmaz is one of the Founders of the UKTHM (UK Turkish Hip Hop movement) which are a collective of rappers, producers, artists, event organisers and other creative people that showcase UK and Turkish Hip Hop in Europe.
 
Affiliate artists
 
KEMAL KUSSABI
•  Musician, Saxophone player, Pianist, Singer.
•  Has toured the world performing with various artists and bands as well as solo.
•  Met the Beat Mongers while working at EC1 Music project in 1999
•  Has performed on several tracks including Element Of Cool and Summer In Brixton (playing the Saxophone).
 
DANNY CAMPBELL
•  Singer/Songwriter, Musician, Producer
•  Performed guitar and vocals on the tracks 'Sunshine' and ‘Desire’.
 
JADE YUEN
•  Singer/Songwriter.
•  Met the Beat Mongers through secondary school and was also a member of EC1 Music Project.
•  Wrote and performed the track 'Memories' which was remixed by the Beat Mongers.
 
701 SQUAD
• A Hip Hop outfit made up of YEMI aka MC STRIDER and TOM ‘THE DON’.
• They are Rappers and producers in their own right
•  Met the Beat Mongers through Yilmaz aka AK09.
•  Performed (free styled) vocals on the track 'Baggy Spandex Bandit'.
•  Performed live for the 'Beat Mongers Present…' radio show and Beat Mongers live PA.