Kimon – Music’s reluctant star

He’s got a voice that’s beyond the extraordinary and blessed with a talent to convey emotion, inject lyrics and compositions with a rare authenticity. Kimon Phirripides – Kimon for short – is a South African music treasure and little by little, people are discovering what this gentle and kind, smiling man shares with the world.

Feel What You Wanna Feel was his debut single, released last year. And while Kimon lacked the marketing muscle to drive airplay and sales, organic discovery of his music on social media and streaming platforms continues to grow. It’s been a year and the response to the track, and the music video, has been greater than his initial expectations.

And it will soon be followed up by a legion of original tracks that range from Amapiano through to pure pop. Over the past 12 months Kimon has recorded a catalogue of ballads, upbeat tunes and everything in between. But all of his music, despite genre, is firmly rooted in the common denominator that we all share: emotion.

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This, softspoken and often self-deprecating artist is nothing short of genius. He composed his first piece of classical music as a budding teenager and now, not yet 30, has a raft of classical and contemporary compositions to share. It’s the next step in a career that’s bound to pick up never-ending momentum.

Kimon’s journey began under circumstances that were anything but ordinary. He was born with an extraordinary sensory perception, he does not switch on electrical light, because he can hear the frequencies that pulsate through its currents. The simple hissing of old televisions is not a mere background disturbance; it was an enduring sound that exemplified the heightened sensory world in which he lives.

“I was born with all my senses heightened, so I’m sensorially defensive,” he said.

Few moments pass without him hearing a song, a melody in his head.

Kimon’s relationship with music is intimate. It’s his escape into the darkness, into places where his usual happy-go-lucky and easy-going persona dares to venture into. It’s a place of emotion and oftentimes, he takes himself to a place where he can feel deeply. This is where he finds his expression, his outlet. Melody, beyond lyrics, is where he builds emotion.

“There are certain harmonies and juxtapositions of notes that express what I’m going through and help me through that emotion,” he said. It’s his personal therapy.

When he writes songs, and visits the darker corners of his being, empathy is at times his best friend. “When I lack the personal experience to write about a particular subject, I examine every aspect of a possible scenario and place myself in that situation, I analyse how I would be, what I would feel, and immerse myself in that imaginary situation,” he said.

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Compared to other forms of art and self-expression, music has an undeniable ability to create recall, permanently etching moments and feelings into a person’s consciousness. Kimon said that it is this power of music, as a common denominator between people, that builds emotional connections.

“We all vibrate on a specific frequency, and you will find that some people resonate with different (musical) keys more than others, and in turn, people who resonate with similar keys, whether it’s a D-minor or whatever, again stand a better chance of shaping positive relationships between one another. Sound, and music, bring us together, it’s an undeniable attraction,” he said.

His grasp of music theory – he teaches music part time too – lends a further layer of complexity and sophistication to his work. He perceives music as more than an art form; it is a language that speaks in the dialects not only of emotions but also of mathematics. This approach enables him to create pieces that are not only emotionally evocative but also intellectually stimulating.

“There’s so much math in music, everything is based around numbers and patterns,” he remarked, noting the intricate relationship between music and mathematics. Not dissimilar to the balance of the physical universe.

From the structured beauty of classical music to the soulful depths of jazz, and the contemporary rhythms of pop, Kimon’s repertoire is varied. This versatility is not merely a testament to his technical expertise but also to his belief in the universal language of music. He views music as a medium that transcends cultural and linguistic barriers, connecting people through a shared experience of sound and emotion.

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While pop music today seems simpler than, say, complex symphonies, Kimon believes it carries its own set of challenges.

“The challenge is how do you write something simple yet still brilliant,” he shared, noting the importance of a balance between simplicity and depth in music.

He added that classical music, to him, is also a structure based on formula, and while it seems complex at face value, can be broken down into simplicity.

This is the universal power of music, the equations and formulas and emotions, by numbers, and through minimalism.