rea river soul

Interview with Dele Sosimi, who performs at Felabration tonight!!

Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti would have been 73 today, and it seems fitting that Hare & Hounds is celebrating the life of such a legendary multi-instrumentalist, with a night of live acts and DJ sets dedicated to his legacy.

Featuring an Afrofunk DJ set from the magnificent Bobbalin' Hot, Felabration kicks off at 9pm tonight, and the party doesn't end until 1am, so make sure you don't miss out.

Former Egypt 80 keyboard player Dele Sosimi will also performing, who's work has been heard on many of Fela's albums.

Tonight, musical director Dele, will front an Afrobeat band, featuring many musicians from the FELA! Musical, which had a stint of shows in London last year.

“[Playing a part in the FELA! Musical felt] great!, acting 'me' in 63 performances!!”, says Dele.

“What more could I ask for? The real Fela, of course, to be on stage every night”.

As well as performing songs from his own albums, Dele will also be covering some of Fela's most well known tracks.

Or as Dele himself explains, it'll be “Afrobeat Vintage and Classic Fela originals, with a hint of Dele Sosimi”.

He continues.“ It will always feel great to celebrate Fela's birthday. His influence on me is such that I have been and always will be celebrating his music”.

Fela's son, Femi, has also played a huge part in the development of Dele's musical skills, as they both formed Femi Anikulapo-Kuti and the Positive Force after leaving Egypt 80, in which Dele became the bandleader for both projects.

And in 1995, Dele moved to London, where his music began to reflect an inspirational multi-cultural environment.

“My role in the Afrobeat scene has definitely grown and evolved with the years”, says Dele.

“Every aspect of life has a musical significance and potential to inspire music making. It is usually a question of do I actualise at the moment, or build it in the air for my personal pleasure, then forget it with the moment”.

Additionally, Dele is an educator and instructor in Afrobeat, and he has even set up his own Afrobeat Foundation.

“We aim to spread the Afrobeat agenda worldwide and encourage younger musicians to participate”, he says.

“It's about keeping Afrobeat alive, real and relevant. Teaching Afrobeat and facilitating symposia and academic debates and studies on it”.

All this, plus more, makes Dele the most active Afrobeat artist to date, therefore, who better to pay a birthday tribute to the amazing pioneer that is Fela Kuti, and his fusion of jazz, funk, high-life, psych rock and traditional West African chants, which in turn developed a whole new genre called Afrobeat.

"This is actually a test on Birminghamians, to see if they will rise to the occasion", says Dele.

Felabration kicks off at 9pm at Hare & Hounds tonight.

By Ross Cotton

This Friday: Felabration!!!

I shall be playing an Afrofunk set at the Hare and Hounds this Friday to celebration the birthday of Fela Anikulapo Kuti. The event will feature a top Afrobeat band (most musicians were in the Fela Musical) fronted by Dele Sosimi - who played keys in Fela's Egypt 80 band. I've seen them several times and Dele is a top performer, great energy, stage presence and musical skills. Everybody say "Yeah, yeah!"

Here are some recent purchases which I cannot stop playing...

Loving this tune at the moment:

It's by a band from Mali called Bida de la Capitale. It's a fisherman's song and has quite a mysteriousness, sad vibe about it. The deep, hypnotic bass line is killer!

Love this track, had to buy it! It's by one of Fela's baritone sax players Lekan Animashaun. Definitely feel the spirit of Kuti in this afro groove.

Love this too:

Hope to see some of you on Friday!

Oh and here's a mix: 

Nasty Gal

No, not me, Betty Davis. Actually not sure she was that promiscious, but she hung around with the likes of Sly Stone, Jimi Hendrix and wrote lyrics and music that were provocative indeed.

She was the second wife of trumpeter Miles Davis (they were married for only a year) and is said to have been the muse and driving force behind his musical refocus in Bitches Brew. Anyway, I like her grooves, her voice is incredible: growls, purrs and teases.

It's sunny, I'm struggling to focus on admin so here is a foxy tune for a beautiful sunny day. I read in a Wax Poetics article that she is now a recluse living in the country somewhere stateside. Come out of retirement Betty! 

Summer Soul Searching

What a summer! DJed at Passing Clouds for club night Afrobeat Vibration and caught Dele Sosimi's band play a badass 4 hour set (he was the keyboard player for Fela's Egypt '80 band).

Night before I peeped Alan Weekes' Effra Band at Passing Cloud, such a tight rhythm section and lush trumpet solos. Really wicked vibe at both nights, friendly people, great sounds and lots of smiles.

(.... there was a 60 year old guy there with two very young blonde ladies (looked Russian) they looked a lil out of place....)

Here's some footage I took on my phone:

Went to Paris and found a wicked record shop called Superfly, which I had never encountered before. Was wicked to chat to one of the owners Paulo, who was about to travel to Senegal on a record hunting mission. I think he was politely trying to kick me out ;-) So much good stuff in there!! Must visit again! You can listen to one of his mixes here. 

I tried hard not to, but the inevitable happened, I left France deciding whether to ditch clothes so I could pack records into my suitcase.... what an affliction!! 

Playing an African set for Punch Records Felabration night on the 14th October at the Hare and Hounds. Should be good fun, more Dele, more ass shaking, rum and gingers, pleasant vibes. 

Anyway, here's a new mix for you: 

You can download it on soundcloud here. 

Ali Chukwumah - Henrietta

This tune is ridiculous! Make sure you listen it to with headphones or on a proper sound system cos the bass-line is heavy! Djing at the hare and hounds on the 9th September. This is definitely getting an outing.

Slip and Do it

Scorchio! Betty Wright is a top sister funk singer in my opinion.

Storage Porn

Looking at ways of storing my babies and came across a useful blog post. 

The ikea expedit bookcase is an obvious, affordable choice:

For those who haven't given up on wax, what do you think of these bad boys? 

These Handmade LP Storage Box are pretty nice too! Not cheap though. £169 on amazon. 

Keleya Moussa Doumbia

Loving the keys on this! Nice groove, psychedelic afrobeat. 

"Moussa Doumbia was a saxophonist, arranger, author/composer who used African American funk as his main inspiration during the 1970's. Living in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, West Africa, the Malian artist recorded an audacious music for a restricted public, with the help of two French American producers based there, Cathy & Albert Loudes.

Moussa Doumbia lived by the scene & had a place in Treichville , not far from the club. He would play there every night for the locals, mostly Dioula people from Northern Ivory Coast & Southern Mali, for which he would sing in his native language, the Dioula. Described as an enthusiast, cheerful person by the people who met him, he was a rigorous professional who wouldn't drink or smoke and could play for hours without a break for his own pleasure. He would hold the microphone, shout, rap & sing, blow his sax, hit a drum&all night long. As original as Nigerian musican Fela Kuti, Moussa Doumbia played a music hardly heard in that part of Africa. Bete, Baoule, Dioula, Mossi peoples who came from all Ivory Coast & the neighbouring countries (Guinea, Mali & Burkina Faso mostly) to Abidjan didn't really enjoy Fela s afrobeat. James Brown would stand as a major artist in record stores and on the radio, but local artists wouldn't play this funk music home. The public usually prefered, when it came to imported music, the Afro Cuban style from New York, Puerto Rico or Cuba. He loved French pop singers like Johnny Halliday, Sylvie Vartan or Mireille Mathieu. Or played international instrumental easy listening by Ray Conniff's or Paul Mauriat's orchestras. But Moussa Doumbia was lucky enough to settle in Abidjan at the same time as the first French speaking West African record company, the Société Ivoirienne du Disque (SID). Even at a small scale, the SID built a recording studio, imported a record press & developped a national distribution network, giving more independance to the local record industry. Both SID owners and their main arranger/co-artistic director, African American sax player Greg Skelton, with their American background, were exactly the people Moussa Doumbia needed to record his music there.

Moussa Doumbia's original synthesis of funk & African rhythms is comparable to Fela Kuti's, Poly Rythmo's or Ebo Taylor's. It reflects what was yesterday's urban culture of a small part of Abidjan's population. Doumbia used to sing mostly in Dioula. His every day life was very African: he would share a small hut with his wife not far from the club where he played. On one hand, he was a cosmopolitan, who had lived in Paris for several years, was fascinated by African American music, and could sing in both French and English. And even when he played his funk over Dioula or Mandingue rhythmic patterns, his sound would still be quite far from Mali's Rail Band or Guinea's Super Boiro afro mandingue pop. His saxophone was always funky, dirty, raw & syncopated. But on the other hand he would choose Dioula to express himself most of the time. An unheard music he would play, giving up sometimes on funk breaks for more hybrid compositions that melted African rhythmic elements to funk or afrobeat arrangements. « Samba » & « Nambara » played on afrobeat/afrofunk tempo, were taken from the Guinean folklore tune made famous by South African singer Myriam Makeba. Most of all, his inspiring themes were African answers to universal questions : relationships between men and women as in « Keleya », greed as in « Wanri », religion with « Faux Marabout ». Even if he could sing in French or in English as in « Black & white », or use funk as a musical background, his lyrics could only be understood by a small scale public who lived the way described in his songs."

Taken stolen from this blog.

Playing an African set in London end of the month, hold tight for details. Love the fact I've been told I can only bring vinyl to said gig :-)

Thanking you!

Thanks to all that came to "Soul of the Movement" on Saturday! Overwhelmed by the positive feedback! It was great to have such a great vibe, hear wicked tunes, having to find more chairs for the film screening, especially when I initially thought I was being generous arranging 12!

Lovely seeing people dancing till dawn, I was so tired I left my party early. Pooper! I think I even have some DJing kudos from Spec and Pecka. Props to all the DJs, Koichi for being amazing and all those who helped me out, including Ian Nae, Spec putting up with me, Friction Arts for loan of their projector and Punch Records! Love you all! 

Anyways, the next Rea River Soul shebang will be in autumn, watch this space. If you wanna be on the mail list drop us a line here. 

Mwah! Ha ha! xx

Soul of the Movement: Tomorrow!!

Even mi ma is proud! Check her standing outside the graffitti wall. Think she wants to come too! Gonna charge her double.