Artist description Roots & Akcent bring a fresh sound to the reggae scene. Combining roots, folk, hip-hop and other sounds to the main ingredient of reggae, they make music that catches your attention and touches your heart. Roots & Akcent blend the traditional and the contemporary to reach people of all ages. This is definitely family music! Clean, positive and spiritually power-packed to lift you up.

Music Style Original reggae vibes with a gospel foundation.

Musical Influences Mike Roots credits Yabby You, Stitchie, Christafari, Dennis Brown, Glen Washington, Tenor Saw, Culture, Toots & The Maytals, Papa San, Bob Marley, Luciano, Cross Movement, Hopeton Lewis, Yellowman, Sugar Minott and others as influences. Akcent Da Just Poet's musical influences include, Yabby You, Bob Marley, Tinga Stewart, Super Cat, Tiger, Paulino Vieira and others. . The BIGGEST musical influence is King Jesus the Christ Who inspires and empowers us to do right and live for Him!

Artist History The origin of Roots & Akcent dates back to 1995 when the two brethren began reasoning together about the Holy Bible, their faith in Jesus Christ and the subject of music. Michael Killiany and Aire’ Duarte worked at the same company in Torrington, CT at that time and first began sharing their ideas and perspectives as they would be leaving work for the day or in passing. It turned out that Michael was a guitarist, bassist and percussionist whose musical passion happened to be reggae, with a number of other styles to a lesser degree. Aire’, on the other hand, was a poet and lyric writer who had an equal love for reggae and hip-hop. He had spent a number of years rhyming and reciting his writings in various places, including the streets of Waterbury, CT. Within a few months the two men decided to take their talents and love for music and use them on a mission to uplift people with positive music, strongly based in the word of God. They started out as Open Mind Productions, presenting a fusion of reggae, hip-hop and raw funk with Mike Roots on bass guitar and vocals alongside Akcent Da Just Poet pon the mic. At that time, a drum machine and effects pedals were also used to provide the tracks as they performed in festivals, coffeehouses and churches in Connecticut, USA. The brethren were also part of the Judea Praise Team in Waterbury, CT which was led by guitarist and songwriter Tony Smith. The group disbanded within a year and at that point, they took a break from performing and rehearsing together for a while. In the fall of 2000, Michael Killiany and Aire Duarte became known collectively as Roots & Akcent and set out on a mission to proclaim the gospel truth through reggae music- musically, their first love. In the spring of 2001, Roots & Akcent went into the studio for the first time after spending a few months writing and rehearsing. On August 1, 2001 they released their debut entitled "Keepin' It Real", featuring "Keepin' It Real (With God)", "Lake Of Fire" and two dub tracks. Their first full length album is slated for completion in the spring of 2002. Roots & Akcent work alongside Winston Spence of LSW Music Productions in Waterbury, CT where they continue to lay down tracks. The brethren first performed on Saturday, July 21, 2001 at Rehoboth Church of God in Christ in Waterbury.

Group Members Mike Roots, Akcent Da Just Poet

Instruments Guitar, organ, drums, piano, bass, percussion, synth & more

Albums "Keepin' It Real (With God)" EP

Press Reviews REGGAE-VIBES.COM (4 out 5 stars) Roots & Akcent are two bredren -Michael Killiany (lead vocals, chanting, acoustic guitar & percussion) & Aire Duarte (rapping, chanting & backing vocals)- who create, record and perform a unique blend of reggae music, inspired by Jesus Christ, thus trying to reach the youth of this world with a positive alternative to the immorality that is so often promoted through entertainment and the media. Their debut cd-single (a pre-release from Roots & Akcent's forthcoming debut album) is called "Keepin' It Real" and consists of two tracks and their dub remixes. Keepin' It Real (With God) is a smooth dancehall flavored tune with nice deejay rapping from Akcent, whilst Lake Of Fire is a melodic and catchy rootical tune, complete with some subtle spanish guitar licks. The dub remixes are pure instrumentals "done in such a way that listeners can meditate and reflect on the message or sing the lyrics themselves". The tracks have been programmed and mixed by Winston Spence of LSW Productions with contributions from Lamont Williams on additional keyboards and Fred Rodriguez on guitar. Teacher & Mr. T.

Location Torrington, CT - USA

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