Victoria and Vancouver Island have a lot of musical talent, and Victoria Buzz wants to highlight some of the best and brightest local artists and bands.
Every Monday, there will be a fresh ‘New Music Monday’ article to help people find and support local artists and bands that are up-and-coming, well established or hidden gems!
For this endeavour, Victoria Buzz has partnered with our good friends at CFUV 101.9 FM, UVic’s campus radio station, to find and select the musicians and bands for this regular column.
This week, TK The Artist is the New Music Monday highlight!
Tekena Ogoh, who performs under the moniker TK The Artist, fell in love with music by playing the drums all throughout his childhood. As he grew older, TK says that he discovered singing and writing.
TK The Artist moved to Canada from Nigeria eight years ago and eventually sought out UVic for his post-secondary education in biochemistry.
“Storytelling and creating music has morphed through different forms over the years,” TK told Victoria Buzz.
“Now I guess my music has a very wide range of all these influences.”
TK says that his brand of R&B has been heavily influenced by the gospel music he grew up listening to along with jazz and Afrobeat once he got a bit older and into music he was being exposed to outside of the church.
“It is an amalgamation of all these sister genres that are blending together so beautifully,” he explained.
“It just feels like a complete package when you hear it all together.”
Once he was in Victoria, he met Alvin Mwanicky, another musician and producer who had similar ideas about music as TK.
“Meeting him, we realized the combination of influences had a unique crossover that is both very soulful and unique,” TK said.
On Friday February 29th, TK The Artist released two songs that were produced by Mwanicky—Strawberry Bounce and Alvin’s Interlude (Freestyle).
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These two songs are just the first of the singles TK plans to release every month until July or August when he will put a full-length record out.
“Strawberry Bounce is definitely an exploration of the R&B side of our sound,” TK told Victoria Buzz.
TK says the song stemmed from a jam session he and Alvin were having and in that jam, they came up with a really “fat and funky” sound that they knew there was something there.
“We started working on some melodies just hopping around the room having a great time,” he explained.
“We were just trying to create a vibe, like pre-drinks on a summer evening where it’s just very chill, smooth, soulful vocals.”
Listen to Alvin’s Interlude (Freestyle) and Strawberry Bounce below and keep your eyes peeled for more monthly singles being released by TK The Artist.
TK The Artist doesn’t currently have any upcoming shows, but you can follow him on Instagram to stay in the know for future performances.
His music is available on Spotify and Apple Music.
CFUV is a non-profit campus and community radio station that plays a ton of local music of all kinds across Vancouver Island. If you like to support local music they are an amazing resource with a plethora of new local tunes in their arsenal.
Coming up between March 15th and 22nd, they’ll be doing their annual Funding Drive, where they will have special shows and programming in order to help them raise money to operate the station.
“CFUV are a collection of very passionate people who are passionate about the art, music and community,” TK The Artist said.
“It’s just a very beautiful and very supportive community that deserves more attention and love.”
Tune into CFUV 101.9 FM on air or online and, if you can, donate to their Funding Drive!
They also just announced their first showcase that is a part of the Funding Drive featuring some of Victoria’s best and brightest musicians.
Let us know what you think of TK The Artist in the comments below.
