Browse by Artist: SOSIMI, DELE

Artist:	SOSIMI, DELE
Title:	Turbulent Times
Label:	EKOSTAR (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	EKO 003CD

Warehouse find, limited stock; originally released in 2002. Dele Sosimi's credentials as a master of Afrobeat are beyond question, having been (one of) the very first keyboard players to work in Fela Anikulapo's Egypt '80. Prior to this, Fela himself was the only keyboard player in his band or in Afrobeat as a whole. Sosimi then worked with a host of other musicians, including his pivotal role in Femi Kuti's Positive Force in its early years. Then there is the man's innate abilities as a bandleader in his own right -- ask anyone fortunate enough to have experienced Dele's live performances all over Europe, from the South Bank in London to the Monteux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. So here is the man who took over the mantle of Abami Eda as the face of Afrobeat. What you get is a rare insight into the infinite possibilities of what we know -- or more precisely, what we thought we knew -- as Afrobeat. On this album, Afrobeat is subjected to a contemporary re-working. The roots of the music are apparent, and the down-to-earth basis of the music is obvious. But Sosimi's contribution lies in what he has done with those roots. Every single aspect of the music is different from what has gone before. The true test of a work of art is the ability to take the best of a body of learning and presenting it in a different light, re-defining and extending boundaries, opening up infinite possibilities. With this, his first solo album, Sosimi has rendered a huge service to Afrobeat. Listen and be blown away. This is the future of Afrobeat.

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