Jakub König

Jakub König is a musician, artist and writer. He lives in Prague with his wife, writer and illustrator Marie König Dudziaková, their two daughters and a cat. As a child he dedicated himself to painting with savage passion before turning to music at the age of sixteen when he co-founded Obří broskev (Giant Peach) with his schoolmates. He stayed with the band for almost seventeen years during which they released three albums. 2011 saw the internet release of the first album by a mysterious song writer performing in the disguise of a chef and under the pseudonym of Kittchen. The album, entitled MENU, received ecstatic reviews. The disguised Chef equipped with a supply of sound effects and a battered guitar became very popular and was invited to perform at venues and events throughout the country. When Kittchen’s second album Radio received the Anděl Award, it was revealed that the face under the mask belonged to Jakub König. The band has since released two more albums, Kontakt (2015) and Puls (2021). Around the time of the release of Radio, Jakub acquired the technique of holotropic or Maitri breathwork, which he has been practising to this day. The experience of creativity in an altered state of consciousness induced by holotropic breathwork has significantly changed his outlook on life, art and artistic creation. In 2016 he wrote and painted poetic flipbook Když piješ (When You Are a Drunk) about his own battle with the demons of alcoholism (he stopped drinking in 2017). At the time he also invited a group of friends who are all important figures on the Czech alternative music scene to form a band called Zvíře jménem Podzim. Their second album, Září, received two Anděl Awards. During the COVID pandemic, after he lost his job at a corporate company and the opportunity to perform, he returned to painting. To satisfy the growing demand for his art he has since been dividing his time equally between painting and music. In 2023 he launched his solo career with album Hvězdy (produced by Petr Ostrouchov). The album, which is the first project in which he appears as Jakub König himself, without any kind of disguise or a large band behind his back, has met with enthusiastic acclaim.