Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra

In The Begining...

Dele Sosimi, whose career began when he joined Fela Anikulapo-Kutis Egypt 80 in 1979, stands out as one of the most active musicians currently on the Afrobeat scene worldwide ..Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was the founder of the style of music known as Afrobeat. The music is a blend of complex but highly danceable funk grooves, Nigerian traditional music (including hi-life) and African percussion underpinning the jazz horns and solos from other instruments, as well as rhythmic singing.

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PARADISO WAS A BLAST!!! Photo By PDnzzle

As the rhythm keyboard player for Fela Anikulapo Kutis Egypt 80 band, Dele worked and toured extensively with Fela around the world. During Felas incarceration in 1984, Femi Anikulapo-Kuti Felas son and Deles childhood/school friend - took over the reins temporarily and led the Egypt 80 band and Dele had a chance to develop his arranging skills as its musical director, re-orchestrating and re-arranging as well as handling the recruiting and training of new musicians for the band. Dele played keyboards on the following Fela/Egypt 80 hits (among others): Parambulator, Power Show, Original Sufferhead, Customs Check Point, MOP 1 (Movement of the People), Give Me Shit, I Give You Shit, Authority Stealing, Army Arrangement, Government Chicken Boy, ITT (International Thief Thief) and Teacher Dont Teach Me Nonsense.

In 1986, Dele and Femi left Egypt 80 to form their own band called Femi Anikulapo-Kuti and the Positive Force, for which Dele was the musical director and bandleader. He was again responsible for recruiting and training new band members, as well as performing on rhythm keyboard and featuring as the keyboard soloist. The band toured the world extensively and played in several of the major jazz festivals including Montreux, the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Montreal Jazz festival. The Positive Force was also invited to perform at the Jazz Club of Nigeria Festival alongside other renowned musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Randy Weston, Toshiko Akiyoshi and Didier Lockwood. They produced the albums No Cause for Alarm, Mind Your Own Business and Wonder Wonder.

Dele at this time also developed other musical influences and interests, working and playing with an Afro Jazz Quartet/Quintet and through a collaboration with French Bassoon player Alex Ouzounoff, producing a CD titled Made In Nigeria, courtesy of the French Cultural Centre, Lagos, Nigeria.

Dele left Femi Anikulapo-Kuti and the Positive Force in December 1995 and moved to London where he set about forming a new group. The resulting project reflected Londons multicultural environment, with a strong influence of jazz and shades of deep funk and latin music, but all underpinned by the heavy grooves of Afrobeat's Yoruba rhythm with Dele’s vocals very strongly in the Afrobeat tradition. Dele’s first solo album “Turbulent Times” (2002) featured the cream of the resident Afrobeat community on the label Eko Star. Dele has also recently selected the tracks for a 3-CD compilation entitled “Essential Afrobeat”, with Family Recordings (Universal), released in October 2004, and he also was producer and co-writer of “Calabash Volume 1: Afrobeat Poems” by Ikwunga, the first Afrobeat Poet, also released in 2004. He is also a central member of the Wahala Project, which released the single Wahala in 2006; the track also appears on Puma’s 2006 Soccer World Cup Compilation CD Africa Plays On . His new Album IDENTITY has attracted reviews from the Limited edition preview release in Holland this Summer.

Live appearances in 2006 have included, amongst others, Mexicos Ollin Kan Festival and Novi Sad-Serbias Etno Fest and in 2007 Brent Respect Festival, City Of London Festival, Oerol Festival, Terschellings & Paradiso, Amsterdam Holland, Mayor of Londons Africa Day Festival @ Trafalgar Square.

Dele performs in one of three formats, each as compelling at funky as the others a fifteen-piece Afrobeat Orchestra (featuring a five piece horn section and Afrobeat dancers), a nine-piece band (the most frequently used format) or a trio (with bass and percussion).

Sosimi is abetted by a group of musicians, most of whom have either played with him on previous records or have gigged with him on the live circuit. They all have chops to spare and the communication between them is near telepathic. Afrobeat is lovingly given the virtuoso treatment by a combination of Femi Elias, whose Bass growls, twists, turns, pulsates & grooves, Kunle Olofinjana on drums who meshes perfectly with Elias and like a dream machine the groove never lets up. The gear changes are seamless, no accent or punctuation is missed, Phil Dawson who delivers tasty, funky rhythm guitars and some truly exquisite solos from a wide range of angles, again revealing the endless possibilities of what can be done with this music, Maurizio Ravalico on percussion adding colour and The horns - delivered with laser-like precision by Justin Thurgur on Trombone, Tom Allan on Trumpet & Eric Rohner on Tenor Saxophone.