Kenya

With a unique sound and style, the Kenya & Nemor sound is best described as classic soul and R&B with a modern twist. Kenya Emilíudóttir grew up in Iceland, and fell in love with music as a child, through the recordings of groups such as Earth, Wind and Fire and Bob Marley & The Wailers. From there she was hooked. Although she had written poems in her youth, she viewed songwriting as a difficult task. Jason Nemor Harden, born and raised in Houston Texas, fell in love with music at the age of five, after attending his first concert featuring non other than Earth, Wind and Fire.



Divided by the Atlantic Ocean and totally different cultures, Kenya and Jason met by chance in Iceland in August of 2003 while participating in a tribute performance: 'The Soul of Motown'. Approximately one year after the Motown tribute began; the two formed Kenya Nemor in the fall of 2004. The duo wrote and recorded their first demo in October of that year, 'Touch Me Taste Me', and the thrill of that accomplishment was enough encouragement to proceed and follow a dream.



Kenya Nemor had their debut on the Icelandic Music scene holding down their first live performance to playback of one of their tracks at a popular Reykjavik nightspot, called Café Oliver in October of 2005. However, they longed to form a band of live musicians to assist them in interpreting their musical ideas. By mid-August 2006, they did just that. Their first full band performance was at the University of Iceland at the campus bar. That performance was followed by a modest, but exciting, increase in activity as they performed for Menningarnótt (Culture Night) on August 23 that same year. Later that same night, the duo minus the full band embarked on their first steady gig, performing for a small audience at Thorvaldsen Bar in Reykjavik. The bi-monthly gig turned into a weekly gig after several shows, as per the request of club management. Countless performances and eight months later, the duo decided to take time off to start the proper studio recording of their first album. In the interim Kenya Nemor performed at the renowned Iceland Airwaves Music Festival in October of 2006, and received favorable reviews for their first appearance on a big scene.



During the spring of 2007 the duo Kenya Nemor changed its name to Kenya. They remained intact, but Nemor was dropped from their title and Kenya became both the name and face that would represent the sound. Fresh-faced with an adamant determination to succeed, Kenya embarked on a career that would lead to performances during Iceland's Independence Day Celebration on June 17th, an 'Unplugged' gig at Reykjavik's Gaukur á Stöng the following weekend. In October they were back for the second time at the annual Iceland Airwaves.
The following spring in April of 2008, Kenya made another leap and established a bi-monthly concert series at Café Oliver, in conjunction with a weekly radio spot on Flass FM104.1, called 'Sálarvik'. The concert series would run a successful eight months with Kenya as the steady house-band for the event, and several cameo appearances by local Icelandic artists. After 'Sálarvik', the duo decided to take another hiatus from live performances in order to finish the recording of the long awaited first album.



On the international scene Kenya has performed at Crash Mansion in New York City (2007), Sildajazz in Haugesund, Norway (2008), Jamfestivalen Norevikane in Sognefjord, Norway (2009) and Reisefestivalen in Oslo, Norway (2009).



After careful consideration of their marketing strategy, the two decided to return much closer to the root of their original concept, and now go by the name of Kenya & Nemor, two faces, two voices, and two souls. Kenya & Nemor are the total package, encompassing talent, charm and passion about the craft, bringing everything to every performance. The long awaited debut album Just Becuz is just around the corner so stay tuned.