Biography

HKB FiNN is a spoken word artist with a difference. His work explores the connections between cultures and his music combines elements of Jazz, Hip Hop & Reggae into a unique blend. With Poetry and occasional Raps that covers a wide range of topics from Love to Spirituality, he creates incredible soundscapes that examines our collective roots.

Born in Malta, educated in Jamaica and began performing poetry at aged 7, he embraced many aspects of Jamaican culture including it’s rich folk traditions into his art. Arriving in the UK in the early 1980’s, he was at first drawn to the underground Reggae movement and later to Hip Hop.

His first group Katch 22, where one of the leading lights in the early 1990’s European Hip Hop movement with 3 ground breaking albums (Diary of a Blackman Living in the land of the lost, Non-Conformist Rituals and Dark Tales from Two Cities).

From 1994-1999, HKB FiNN performed alongside a variety of groups in a range of genre’s other than Hip Hop. These experiences gave him access to other musical traditions which in turn, inspired him to create a form of urban music that embraces folk traditions as well as charting urban realities. He calls this sound: Organica. FiNN describes Organica as: “A fission of Jazz, Hip Hop & Reggae with West African over tones”.

HKB FiNN became a soloist in 1999 and began recording several albums. His solo recordings have been themed around particular aspects of Organica and has gained him worldwide popularity as an innovator of ‘underground music’. An engaging performer, FiNN has also collaborated with a number of musical luminaries including: The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Nojazz, Soweto Kinch, Orphy Robinson, Viva Sinfonia, Nitin Sahwney, Kasse Mady Diabate, Tunde Jegede, The Orb, Shur-I-Kan, The Royal Opera House, Robert Mitchell’s Panacea and many more.

Over the years, FiNN and his ensemble have performed in over 25 countries worldwide and describes this work as: “Making music based on sharing truth, spreading love and delivering exceedingly good grooves.”

Discography

Vitalistics (2002)
Acoustic Afro Hip Hop (2004)
Spoken Herbs (2006)
Finnstrumentals Vol#1 (2007)
Light in the shade of darkness (2008)
Natural Eloquence (2010)