We were lucky to catch up with Afungang Music recently and have shared our conversation below.
Afungang , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
I joined the United States Army in 2011, and got stationed at Upstate NY, Fort Drum as my first duty station. Back then being lowly privates that we were, we couldn’t truly afford to go out on the town every weekend, plus the closest town to base ( Watertown NY) was about 25 mins away. Ubers wasn’t a thing back then, which meant soldiers will go out partying; either drive back drunk resulting in DUIs, or worst.
So one weekend, Saturday night I believe it was, I decided to throw a party in our barracks day room as an alternative. It was a grand success!
Even our first line leader approved because we have no DUIs that weekend from our unit, we all had a great time, and when the night was over, we each just strolled back to our quarters.
I hosted another and another and before we knew it, we had other soldiers coming from different barracks to party in our day room.
A star was born, and I fell in love with the feeling music made people feel.
I knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
Icing on the cake, my battalion commander at the time allowed me to DJ our Military Police Battalion Ball, and what a time!!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am, Afungang Thierry Mboumbo. Born in West Africa, Cameroon into a noble family. And as long as I can remember, music has been a part of my life. Growing up, I was the kid who stayed by himself; I never really good the point of small talk, or fleeting conversations. I sought after real connections, and since there was a void of that, I drown myself into the arts, languages, and music of any genre to try and make meaning of this thing we call life.
I am a student of life, and a creative. By that, I mean in every sense of the word creative: music in all its forms and genres, art (painting, pencil art) videography ( I shoot and produce my own video teasers, and releases) and recently I got into screenplay writing.
I am proud of every single one of my works, because each of them reflect a particular period of my life, and if the listeners where to listen close enough, they all tell a story.
What sets Afungang ( A Fun Gang ) Music apart is, I love authenticity.
AfungangMusic is all of our inclusivity, connectivity , and knowing that..no matter what you have a community here you can always reach out to… who will laugh and dance with you, till you find that Divine Boogaloo.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Being responsible for myself. Yes, I believe that, as an artist we are our businesses; and it’s all up to the artist, how far they’re willing to take this amazing ride. Now don’t get me wrong, there will…absolutely will be trying times, but that builds a certain resilience that only creatives, and artists understand. Rejections will come, it’s part of the game; its important to know they’re not personal, and to take those feelings, transmute them into a driving force to propel us forward.
I turned every ‘no’ or ‘not good enough’ into fuel, and its kept me going, and it makes for a better, well rounded creative.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Ahh where to begin. There are so many philosophers and modern avant-garde thinkers whom I revere. The likes o Sir Nikola Telsa; I can not begin to describe just how much his philosophy and outlook changed my life. Sir Dick Gregory, Dr Sebi, Sir Alan Watts, Her Excellency Toni Morrison, Mme Maya Angelou, Dr Delbert Blair.. and these are just to name a few.
And I’ll now do my best to summarize everything these terrifyingly brilliant minds all thought me:
‘It’s all in your Head, and Heart’
😊
Contact Info:
- Website: www.soundcloud.com/afungangmusic
- Instagram: @afungangmusic
- Facebook: Afungang Mboumbo
- Youtube: @afungangmusic
Image Credits
Lofi-girl generator, created my preferred logo of me sitting at my desk, jotting down notes, and writing melodies. The second is my stage backdrop.