Dele Sosimi
Encyclopedia
Bamidele Olatunbosun Sosimi, known as Dele Sosimi, is a Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...

n-British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 musician (born 22 February 1963, London).

Biography

His career began when he joined Fela Anikulapo-Kuti's Egypt 80 (1979–1986). Then he created Positive Force band with Femi Kuti
Femi Kuti
Olufela Olufemi Anikulapo Kuti popularly known as Femi Kuti, is a Nigerian musician and the eldest son of afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti....

, with whom he performed from 1986 to 1994. In both bands he was keyboard player, also musical director taking care of re-orchestrating and arranging music as well as handling the recruiting and training of new musicians.

Based on Afrobeat
Afrobeat
Afrobeat is a combination of traditional Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, funk and chanted vocals, fused with percussion and vocal styles, popularised in Africa in the 1970s. Its main creator was the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who gave it its name, who used it to...

, Dele's music is a blend of complex funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

 grooves, Nigerian traditional music (including hi-life), African percussion, underpinning the jazz horns and solos from other instruments, as well as rhythmical singing.

His keyboard work can be heard on Fela's several albums, as well as Femi's ones. Dele has also performed often with Tony Allen
Tony Allen (musician)
Tony Oladipo Allen is aNigerian drummer, composer, and songwriter who currently lives and works in Paris. He is currently writing his autobiography "Tony Allen: Master Drummer of Afrobeat" with author/musician Michael E...

.

Following his first solo album Turbulent Times, he was invited to select the tracks for the 3-CD compilation "Essential Afrobeat" (Universal, 2004). He was producer and co-writer of "Calabash Volume 1: Afrobeat Poems" by Ikwunga, the Afrobeat Poet (2004). He is a central member of the Wahala
Wahala
Wahala is a small town in Sri Lanka. It is located within Southern Province.-External links:*...

 Project. He has also featured on British rapper TY's album Closer and his Turbulent Times is featured on The Afrobeat Sudan Aid Project (2006). His album Identity has been described by Songlines
Songlines
Songlines, also called Dreaming tracks by Indigenous Australians within the animist indigenous belief system, are paths across the land which mark the route followed by localised 'creator-beings' during the Dreaming...

 magazine as “A sizzling set from London’s Afrobeat leader”.

His performances include The Montreux Jazz Festival
Montreux Jazz Festival
The Montreux Jazz Festival is the best-known music festival in Switzerland and one of the most prestigious in Europe; it is held annually in early July in Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva...

, Joe Zawinul's Birdland (Vienna) the Treibhaus (Innsbruck ), Paradiso (Amsterdam)
Paradiso (Amsterdam)
Paradiso is an iconic rock music venue and cultural center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.-History:It is housed in a converted former church building that dates from the nineteenth century and that was used until 1965 as the meeting hall for a liberal Dutch religious group known as the "Vrije...

, Bimhuis
Bimhuis
The Bimhuis is a concert hall for jazz and improvised music in Amsterdam.With an average of 150 performances a year the Bimhuis is the main stage for these musical genres in the Netherlands....

 (Amsterdam), Oerol Festival
Oerol Festival
Oerol is the name of a Frisian summer festival that takes place each June on the island of Terschelling. The 10-day festival is focused on live, public theatre as well as music and the visual arts....

 (Terschelling, Holland), the Ollin Kan Festival (Mexico City), Canada Afrobeat Summit (Calgary, Canada), Sensommer Int Musikkfestival (Oslo, Norway), Festival Musicas Do Mar and Festival Musicas do Mundo (Portugal), Festival Art des Ville - Arts des Champs (France) & the London African Music Festival, Hot Club in Lyon and Cave à Musique in Mâcon (France). In November 2010, Dele Sosimi was appointed Afrobeat music consultant for the London production of Fela!
Fela!
Fela! is a musical with a book by Bill T. Jones and Jim Lewis, based on music and lyrics by the late Nigerian singer Fela Kuti, with additional music by Aaron Johnson and Jordan Mclean and additional lyrics by Jim Lewis. It is based on events in the life of groundbreaking Nigerian composer and...

 at the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

, London, in which he also plays keyboard.

Based in London, Dele Sosimi is an educator and instructor in Afrobeat
Afrobeat
Afrobeat is a combination of traditional Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, funk and chanted vocals, fused with percussion and vocal styles, popularised in Africa in the 1970s. Its main creator was the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who gave it its name, who used it to...

 (via his Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Foundation, and as a Visiting Lecturer in Music and Media, London Metropolitan University
London Metropolitan University
London Metropolitan University , located in London, England, was formed on 1 August 2002 by the amalgamation of the University of North London and the London Guildhall University . The University has campuses in the City of London and in the London Borough of Islington.The University operates its...

). Dele performs in one of three formats, each as compelling and funky as the others – a 15- piece Afrobeat Orchestra (featuring a 5-piece horn section and dancers), a 6-9 piece band (the most frequently used format) or a trio/quartet (with bass and drums/percussion).

Sosimi is abetted by a group of musicians. Afrobeat is given a virtuoso treatment by a core combination of Femi Elias (bass), Kunle Olofinjana (drums), Phil Dawson
Phil Dawson
Philip Drury Dawson is an American football placekicker for the Cleveland Browns in the National Football League. He holds the franchise record for most field goals made, passing Hall of Famer Lou Groza in 2010...

(rhythm guitar), Maurizio Ravalico (percussion), Justin Thurgur (trombone), Tom Allan (Trumpet) & Eric Rohner (Tenor Saxophone).

External links

  • http://www.facebook.com/delesosimi
  • http://delesosimi.org/biography.php
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