King Sunny Ade and his Afrobeat orchestra on tour (and on disc)

There are two volumes of the Classic Years compilations on Shanachie, and both are fantastic. I need to get Juju Music and Synchro System again.

I just read that he hurt his shoulder so that's why he's not playing much guitar. Also, he still uses up to a 52 piece band sometimes at home, while he's going with a 16 piece outfit on this tour (down from the 26 he used way back in 88 on tour).

In DC Friday night.

I'm pretty sure didn't have 16 people in Chicago. Maybe a dozen? Bass, drums, guitar, keys, three percussionists, and a bunch of singers.

Oh, I read "16" in one of the various articles I googled. That may have been the original plan and/or maybe there were visa issues or money issues in paying that many. I also read that he just did a 70 minute set somewhere. Wow, that's short---I'm spoiled by the 2 DC shows I've seen--an all-nighter and a 2 3/4 hrs. one. Apparently there's no lap-steel player on this tour.

Oh, def. no lap steel in Chicago. It was heavy on the a cappella break downs.

Yeah, sadly no steel player (although King Sunny occasionally got similar tones from his guitar.) Set was around 70 minutes in Winnipeg, too. Bass player was too loud for the first half of the set, and I thought the keyboard player's presets were kinda pedestrian/cheesy, but overall it was a really good show.

The DC show last night went on longer than 70 minutes. Yea, 10 or so minutes were for a song where folks came up and sprayed King Sunny and his bandmates with dollar bills (and this little kid who came onstage to dance dresed in traditional Nigerian clothing) but the show did not feel short. 2 other songs were showcases for 2 women dancers to do African hip and butt-shaking moves. The percussion was great and the band's timing is so on. King Sunny was only on guitar on one song that I saw(um uh, I had to leave at the 2 hour mark as I had to get to the airport at dawn). Lots of dance and pantomime moves from Ade and the band,plus lots of call and response and accapella vocals. Some of these African keyboard players are still playing their Korg's like its the early 80s or something (maybe the instrument used was that old). A pretty good show and different than the prior ones I had seen over the years because of the smaller band and Ade's shoulder injury limiting his guitar time.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106178245

NPR.com story on the Seattle show with link for stream of that show

Sad news I just received from the publicist:

It is with great sadness that we announce the cancellation of the entire April/May 2010 North American tour for King Sunny Ade and his African Beats.

On March 26th 2010 a tragic car accident took the lives of two members of the African Beats, talking drummer Gabriel Ayanniyi and percussionist Omo Olope, who were en-route to a video shoot for a forthcoming recording. When the US Embassy refused to grant visas to replacement members in a timely manner, there was confusion about the possible courses of action.At the same time, it became clear that the artist and the band had neither recovered from the impact of the tragedy, nor were they able to find consensus on how to move forward with normal touring.

As a result, the North American April/May 2010 tour has been canceled until such a time as King Sunny Ade and his group have sufficiently regrouped and are ready to face the rigors of an International tour again.

We offer our heartfelt condolences to the band and the families of the deceased. On behalf of the artist and his band we extend our apologies to all who will be disappointed by their inability to perform in North America this year.

GRAViTON: African Arts (N.A. management fo King Sunny Ade)

Press inquiries:

Mat Martin, Publicistrock paper scissors, inc.

I'm really bummed about this; I was gonna get to interview him. I'm not even that bothered by losing the (tiny) fee for the article - I just really wanted to ask him about his memories of the '70s Nigerian music scene, given all the compilations that have been coming out.

fuckk.. rip

ugh, that's sad ... i was about to pull the trigger and buy tix for his show near me in a couple weeks!

What are the best Sunny Ade released King Sunny Ade & his African Beats albums (i.e. not given a proper release in the West)?

I love Bobby and Explosion. Christgau loves The Message (which I haven't heard). If I lay down hard cash for any of these which should they be?

Good question. Thought this thread was reopened because he's gonna do a US tour in June

I'm busy listening to masked Nigerian bandleader/singer/sax player Lagbaja (who is touring the US now) but need to catch up on old King Sunny efforts too

Should I go see him? He's coming around my way this summer....

Yes to Lagbaga and of course to Kingy Sunny. Admittedly I haven't been as wowed by more recent Ade gigs compared to the all-night one way back when, but he still puts a great fairly big band together that know those juju grooves.

The Shanachie label Best of the Classic Years from 1966 to 1974 takes songs from a dozen albums Ade recorded for the Nigerian label African Songs Ltd.

i really love this one though each side runs as a continuous side which makes it slightly annoying coming from a dj perspective. the moog in "she loves me" is sublime.

http://www.discogs.com/King-Sunny-Ade-And-His-African-Beats-Searching-For-My-Love/release/1371674

i mean each side runs as a continuous track.

this one is good too. it's the first record of his to feature hawaiian guitar.

http://www.discogs.com/Sunny-Ade-And-His-African-Beats-Syncro-Chapter-1/release/2324708

I was so lucky to find a decent LP version of the deleted Aura seven years ago.

There's also a sequel to Best of the Classic Years called Gems from the Classic Years that gathers up more 70s material. Both are highly worthwhile.

Visas have still not been processed for King Sunny Ade and the Band so a Hollywood Bowl gig and others have been cancelled --New Orleans, Austin, Dallas, and Jackson , MS too. Shows From D.C. northward are still on, at the moment.

DC promoter says show will happen. We will see

Last time I saw him I don't think he played guitar ...

In 2009 the last time they were in the US, he did not play the guitar because he had just hurt his shoulder

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. They couldn't get the visas approved, so the Howard Theatre tells me the whole tour is now cancelled(DC, NY etc.)

Musician visas are some really vexing bullshit. Seems like every year there's someone who doesn't make it to Winnipeg Folk Fest because of this.

dang, was planning on seeing him next month in boulder...

King Sunny Ade was so great early this morning. At the show near Baltimore, they didn't come onstage till 1 am and were still onstage going at 3:25 am when my wife and I headed out (I had to get up early to work, a long drive, etc). The show was most impressive from 1 am to 2:40 am or so when the 12 piece group plus King Sunny were doing call & response vocals, guitar, percussion, keys and more grooves, and coordinated choreographed dancing. At 2:40 am it was praise song time, with Nigerians coming onstage to throw money at and paste it on King Sunny Ade while also requesting recitation of their names. King Sunny did not play guitar at the beginning of the night or during the praise song portion, but there was a long middle stretch where he did. He's about to turn 70 and was energetic.

The promoter as I mentioned before did a lousy job getting the word out about this gig. There were only around 50 people there (mostly Nigerian) some who paid $150 (regular standing room price was $50). The 3 times I have seen him over the years in DC there was always at least 1,000 there. This gig was supposed to start at 8:30, but the opener Elikeh didn't start till 11 pm.

― curmudgeon, Saturday, July 9, 2016 7:04 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Rolling Outernational Non-West Non-English (Some Exceptions) 2016 Thread Once Known as World Music

I just heard Aura for the 1st time tonight, it is amazing.

That's a good one

This is such a jam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGxgUAkFl0k

yesssss. one of the best albums ever made.

yknow I've been thinking I wanna get Juju music… but being that it's Island's "we need another Bob M" gambit, is there any sense that it's somewhat cleaned up, sell-outish, for the international market? or would the below be better for a beginner?

https://www.allmusic.com/album/best-of-the-classic-years-mw0000018870

https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-king-of-juju-the-best-of-sunny-ade-mw0000367899

best of the classic years is great too. I just love the dubby early 80s electronic production flourishes on Juju Music. I have a strong aversion to "cleaned up" intl market sht but just listen to it and I'd be shocked if you deem it as such.

All three of his Island albums — Juju Music, Synchro System (my favorite) and Aura — are great, as are the compilations Best of the Classic Years and Gems From the Classic Years. Of the three Island records, Aura is the most "let's make this guy a pop star" — Stevie Wonder plays harmonica on it, and some of the tracks have a very electro/hip-hop sound. (There were even 12" dance singles issued.)

I don't find anything particularly "cleaned up" about it, and I think it's worth questioning the assumption that something exclusively for an African audience would be less "cleaned up" than something aimed at the international market. There's a ton of afropop from the 80s that was primarily marketed within its home country that sounds much "cleaner" to my ears than this record.

That said, I found the Classic Years to be an easier gateway for me back in my college days as a guy whose musical trajectory was classic rock/grunge/hardcore---> jazz ----> rare funk and soul ---> fela

fwiw, some commentary from the wiki article on this very subject:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juju_Music

When Adé agreed, he was teamed with Martin Meissonnier, a French record producer who advised that the typical long song structures of Nigerian music would not work for Western audiences. Accordingly, Adé divided a number of his Nigerian hits for international release, a task he found unchallenging. He later explained that "In Nigeria, we got used to non-stop recording, about 18 to 20 minutes of music. But over here, the music should be track-by-track for the radio and the dance floor. It's like making a dress. One by one, the different pieces are joined together, but you can still see the lines where they meet".

...

Although Meissonnier altered the song structure, he did not alter Adé's style.[7] To Westerners, Adé's music seemed eclectic, with reviewers of Juju Music commenting variously on the mingling of "the spacey mixing techniques of Jamaican dub" into Adé's "Nigerian polyrhythms",[8] and—even more minutely—on the "echoes of old reggae in its lean guitar riffs, salsa in its Yoruban drum patterns, country in the steel-guitar playing, dub in the music's wide-open holes, folk and calypso in its gentle singing and the Grateful Dead and jazz in its long jams"

^^ this

Re Juju

Juju is a great one no matter what, I mean

Completely agree about the Island records. I love Juju Music the most, the dubby production is super sweet. Aura kind of shades into 80s Miles territory for me -- not a bad thing, but not as smooth as Juju Music or Synchro System. Glad to have the recommendations for the compilations -- I've never heard em.

ok, so I'll get Juju music, but if I wanna get one comp that covers the pre Island shit, which should I get?

Start with Best of the Classic Years; Gems From the Classic Years is a sequel that covers the same era.

If you find a used vinyl copy of Aura, buy it.

A lot of the non-Island albums from the very late 70s and early to mid 80s are fantastic and, while not too dissimilar from Juju Music in basic sound, in a lot of ways are more enveloping listens than the Island albums: The Golden Mercury of Africa, The Message, Check ‘E’, Iyinle Odu, Bobby, Ajoo, Explosion, Togetherness, Sweet Banana.
And that’s not even all of them.

I mean at some level they’re somewhat indistinguishable but that also means you can’t really go wrong. My favourite is Bobby for what it’s worth.

Agreed, Bobby is great. Also a big recommnedation for Searching For My Love.

Having never heard of King Sunny Ade and having no context or knowledge of these kind of sounds, hearing him appear on UK TV around 1982 or 83 (on The Tube) was a genuinely mind blowing musical experiences that left me totally gobsmacked and altered my musical taste forever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGmbyRaauog

Revisiting his discography, I find Aura to be his best album. It's not on spotify but the full thing is on youtube. If you haven't heard it please do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_5DDEqghhA