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King Sunny Ade

King Sunny Ade - guitar, vocals

For more than three decades, King Sunny Ade and his African Beats have been thrilling audiences worldwide with their extraordinary music. The Nigerian singer, guitarist, bandleader, and entrepreneur is the acknowledged master of juju, a cross-cultural sound that sends listeners on a remarkable journey into the heart of one of Africa's most vital cultures. His music draws from the many idioms and forms of the Yoruba language, and imbues it with a modern sense of spirituality, politics and honor.

Juju is a thrilling hybrid of Western pop and traditional African music that incorporates electric guitars and synthesizers with such indigenous instruments as talking drums. Lyrically, juju is rooted in the Yoruba tradition of conveying broad social and cultural messages through archetypal proverbs and parables. A remarkably convivial music, juju has at its heart a dynamic and interactive nature that incorporates a plenitude of grooves, call-and-response choruses and polyrhythmic breaks. Multiple lead guitars, harmonic counter-melodies, and shimmering waves of multi-layered percussion blend with sonic surprises - such as reggae and dub sound system effects or the lilting pedal steel guitars of American country & western - that traverse the boundaries of culture and genre.

King Sunny began his extensive career as a member of Moses Olaiya's Federal Rhythm Dandies then later became the bandleader with the Green Spots. Though he has released more than 100 records in Nigeria, King Sunny first became known in the U.S. after his first international album, on Island Records “Juju Music.” (’82) The album's lead track, "Jafunmi," became an instant classic, a juju anthem that Adé still plays in every show. Two more Island albums appeared, “Synchro System,” (‘83) and “Aura.” (‘84). When Island then wanted to make more drastic changes to Adé's sound, he balked, and left the label. For the next decade, Adé kept touring, but recorded no new music for the international market. Two live releases appeared, notably “Live Live Juju.” (Rykodisc 1988)

Adé signed with Mesa in 1995, and produced three excellent recordings, including “E Dide Get Up.” (’95) The follow up, “Odu,” (‘98) recorded at Dockside Studios in Maurice, Lousianna, was equally strong, and with “Seven Degrees North,” (2000) recorded at Blue Jay Studio in Carlyle, Massachusetts, it is abundantly clear that Adé's career, music, and band were now on solid footing.

There are several current releases out on the African Pop label as “Dr. Sehendemi,” and “Omo Wunmi,” both from 2003. There are of course many reissues available from his earlier periods some are under the title of “The Guitar Master,” and are available in several volumes.

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African Jazz

The Majestic “Return” of King Sunny Ade & His African Beats

Read "The Majestic “Return” of King Sunny Ade & His African Beats" reviewed by Chris May


King Sunny AdeBaba Mo TundeIndigeDisc2010 A leading exponent of Nigerian juju music since the late 1970s, and in 2010 still the most sought after live artist for expatriate Nigerians in Europe and north America, vocalist and guitarist King Sunny Ade once rivalled Afrobeat's Fela Kuti and Zairean rumba's Franco with the frequency of his album releases. Between 1975 and 1984, Ade and his band, the African Beats, released over 40 albums domestically, ...

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166

Recording

The Return of the King: King Sunny Ade Releases First Studio Album in Ten Years

The Return of the King: King Sunny Ade Releases First Studio Album in Ten Years

Source: rock paper scissors, inc.

The Return of the King: The Traffic-Stopping, Hip-Shaking Wisdom of King Sunny Ade is Back on Baba Mo Tunde, His First Studio Album in a Decade King Sunny Ade is global groove royalty whose six-hour sets and butt-shaking beats are notorious from his native Nigeria to Nashville and Nagasaki. And now the master is back with Baba Mo Tunde (IndigeDisc; September 28, 2010), his first studio album in ten years, a pristine recording and double CD set that captures a ...

162

Performance / Tour

King Sunny Ade Cancels Tour

King Sunny Ade Cancels Tour

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

After canceling the first five dates of their North American tour last week, singer and guitarist King Sunny Ade and His African Beats now have scrapped the entire tour. Ade was scheduled to perform in St. Louis tomorrow night (Tuesday April 20), at the Old Rock House. A statement released today by Ade's management said:“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 ...

187

Video / DVD

STLJN Saturday Video Showcase: King Sunny Ade and His African Beats

STLJN Saturday Video Showcase: King Sunny Ade and His African Beats

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

The subjects of this week's video feature are King Sunny Ade & His African Beats, who will be in St. Louis this coming Tuesday, April 20 to perform at the Old Rock House. Since visa problems forced the band to cancel the first several dates of their tour, their St. Louis show now is the kickoff for the band's jaunt across the United States. Ade's style of Nigerian juju music ...

138

Festival

Jazz This Week: Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, John Pizzarelli, King Sunny Ade, Ronald Carter and Russell Gunn, Lea Delaria, and More

Jazz This Week: Greater St. Louis Jazz Festival, John Pizzarelli, King Sunny Ade, Ronald Carter and Russell Gunn, Lea Delaria, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

It's an extremely busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with everything from big bands and straight-ahead small group swing to organ-driven soul-jazz, cabaret, free improv, and two or three different flavors of ethnic music fused with jazz.Let's go to straight to the highlights, described here in more-or-less chronological order:On Wednesday, singer and guitarist John Pizzarelli, who's always a good draw here in the Gateway City, begin a four-night run at Jazz at ...

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Performance / Tour

King Sunny Ade Coming to the Old Rock House on Tuesday, April 20

King Sunny Ade Coming to the Old Rock House on Tuesday, April 20

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

Nigerian singer and guitarist King Sunny Ade, who helped popularize African music in the US and Europe during the 1980s, is back on the road and is bringing His African Beats to St. Louis to perform at 9:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 20 at the Old Rock House, 1200 South 7th Blvd (between downtown and Soulard).Rooted in Nigeria's Yoruba culture, Ade's music was some of the first so-called “world" music to gain wide popularity in the West, and his ...

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Award / Grant

King Sunny Ade Inducted into the Afropop Hall of Fame

King Sunny Ade Inducted into the Afropop Hall of Fame

Source: rock paper scissors, inc.

King Sunny Ade Inducted into the Afropop Hall of Fame at Celebrate Brooklyn On July 18th

King Sunny Ade, Nigeria's beloved entertainer and maestro of juju big band dance music, was inducted into the Afropop Hall of Fame at Celebrate Brooklyn's African Festival on Saturday, July 18th. Afropop Producer Sean Barlow did the honors of inducting “Chairman" (what his friends and colleagues call him.)

Barlow explained to the 10,000 enthusiastic fans at Celebrate Brooklyn that the criteria for selection were ...

230

Performance / Tour

Nigerian Legend King Sunny Ade's 2009 North American Tour

Nigerian Legend King Sunny Ade's 2009 North American Tour

Source: rock paper scissors, inc.

The Chairman's Diplomatic Tour of a New America: Nigerian Legend King Sunny Ade Brings the Forty Minute Jam to US/Canadian Stages and Festivals, June/July 2009

The shift from recorded to live music as the main driver of music commerce happened ten years earlier in Africa than in America. Nigerian juju icon King Sunny Ade who will tour throughout the US and Canada in June and July 2009 knows first-hand.

Stars of juju the Nigerian music that came out of palmwine ...

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