Jungle by Night is a Dutch band from Amsterdam. Their music consists of a mix of Afrobeat, Ethio jazz, funk, dub and rock. The group was created in 2009 after drummer Sonny Groeneveld saw a concert by the American band Budos Band (with members of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings); the band members gathered through a jam session. Jungle by Night debuted in 2010 and played among other things at neighborhood festivals, but also acted as support act for Mayer Hawthorne and The Roots ft. John Legend, the Ethiopian jazz musician Mulatu Astatke and the Orchester Poly Rythmo de Cotonou from Benin. In December 2010, Jungle by Night played in Paris where the band was welcomed by the former accompaniment musicians of Fela Kuti, the founder of the afrobeat, as “the future of the afrobeat”.
In 2011 a self-titled EP was recorded with a new version of the debut single E.T as a bonus track. The self-titled EP appeared on the Kindred Spirits label and was presented in the Melkweg in April. After an extensive festival tour, the band organized a so-called “Felabration” in October, a tribute to Fela Kuti, in which other afrobeat bands also participated. Jungle by Night had also invited Seun Kuti to a sold-out Paradiso in Amsterdam. This son of Fela Kuti was very positive about the band.
In 2012, Jungle by Night released the album Hidden; the summer tour brought the band to the international festivals Istanbul Jazz and Sziget, among others. The second edition of Felabration took place in October. The vinyl single Brass Sabbath was released on April 20, 2013 and was recorded with the American DJ / producer Gaslamp Killer. The single consists of covers; Black Sabbath’s Electric Funeral and a medley that links the originally Turkish song High Times (Zemani Geldi) to The Specials’ Ghost Town. In June, during a free concert on the roof of a restaurant, a video clip was recorded for the James Brown-like song Kiwi. The summer tour brought the band to Russia and England, among others. The annual Felabration was expanded to a mini tour with concerts in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Utrecht.
In January 2014, Jungle by Night played new songs on Noorderslag Weekend as a taste of the album The Hunt, which was released in April. During the summer tour the band performed for the first time in Japan and was visited Vondelpark for a joint performance with Gallowstreet Brass Band in which various members of Jungle by Night play. Two Felebration concerts took place in October. In 2015, Jungle by Night at Noorderslag paid homage to the Nederpop; the band was assisted by Osdorp Posse, Armand, singer / rap star Pink Occulus and Jan Akkerman who brought his singing daughter. The last single was released on Kindred Spirits in June; the cumbia-like El Miraglo that was also the title song of the BNNVARA series 4JIM. The summer tour brought Jungle by Night to the United States and Canada for the first time.
