Bamidele Olatunbosun Sosimi (born 22 February 1963) known as Dele Sosimi, is a

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

musician.

Biography

Sosimi was born in

Hackney, London Hackney is a district in East London, England, forming around two-thirds of the area of the modern London Borough of Hackney, to which it gives its name. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) northeast of Charing Cross and includes part of the Queen ...

, England. His career began when he joined Fela Anikulapo-Kuti's Egypt 80 (1979–86). Sosimi then created Positive Force band with

Femi Kuti Olufela Olufemi Anikulapo Kuti (born 16 June 1962), popularly known as Femi Kuti, is a Nigerian musician born in London and raised in Lagos. He is the eldest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti and a grandchild of political campaigner, women's r ...

, with whom he performed from 1986 to 1994. In both bands he was keyboard player, also musical director taking care of re-orchestrating and arranging music as well as handling the recruiting and training of new musicians. Based on

Afrobeat Afrobeat (also known as Afrofunk) is a West African music genre, fusing influences from Nigerian (such as Yoruba) and Ghanaian (such as highlife) music, with American funk, jazz, and soul influences. With a focus on chanted vocals, complex i ...

, Dele's music is a blend of complex

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

grooves, Nigerian traditional music, African percussion, underpinning the jazz horns and solos from other instruments, as well as rhythmical singing. His keyboard work can be heard on several of Fela's albums, as well as some of Femi's. Dele has also performed often with Tony Allen. Following his first solo album ''Turbulent Times'', he was invited to select the tracks for the 3-CD compilation "Essential Afrobeat" (Universal, 2004). He was producer and co-writer of "Calabash Volume 1: Afrobeat Poems" by Ikwunga, the Afrobeat Poet (2004). He is a central member of the Wahala Project. He has also featured on British rapper TY's album ''Closer'' and his "Turbulent Times" is featured on The Afrobeat Sudan Aid Project (2006). His album ''Identity'' has been described by ''

Songlines A songline, also called dreaming track, is one of the paths across the land (or sometimes the sky) within the animist belief systems of the Aboriginal cultures of Australia. They mark the route followed by localised "creator-beings" in the Dr ...

'' magazine as “A sizzling set from London’s Afrobeat leader”. His performances include the

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annu ...

, Joe Zawinul's Birdland (Vienna) the Treibhaus (Innsbruck ), Paradiso and

Bimhuis The Bimhuis is a concert hall for jazz and improvised music in Amsterdam. With an average of 150 performances a year the Bimhuis is the main stage for these musical genres in the Netherlands. In 2017 it was also a host for the 17th edition of ...

in Amsterdam, Oerol Festival at

Terschelling Terschelling (; ; Terschelling dialect: ''Schylge'') is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and an island in the northern Netherlands, one of the West Frisian Islands. It is situated between the islands of Vlieland and Ameland. ...

, also in the Netherlands, the Ollin Kan Festival (

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

), Canada Afrobeat Summit (

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, Canada), Sensommer Int Musikkfestival (

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, Norway), Festival Musicas Do Mar and Festival Musicas do Mundo (Portugal), Festival Art des Ville - Arts des Champs (France) and the London African Music Festival, Hot Club in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

and Cave à Musique in

Mâcon Mâcon (), historically Anglicization, anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home t ...

(France). In November 2010, Sosimi was appointed Afrobeat music consultant for the London production of '' Fela!'' at the National Theatre, London, in which he also plays keyboard. Based in London, Sosimi is an educator and instructor in

(via his Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Foundation, and as a visiting lecturer in Music and Media,

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public university, public research university in London, England. The University of North London and London Guildhall University merged in 2002 to create the university. The Un ...

). He performs in one of three formats – a 15-piece Afrobeat Orchestra (featuring a five-piece horn section and dancers), a six- to nine-piece band (the most frequently used format) or a trio/quartet (with bass and drums/percussion). The core group of Sosimi's musicians is Femi Elias (bass), Kunle Olofinjana (drums), Phil Dawson (rhythm guitar), Maurizio Ravalico (percussion), Justin Thurgur (trombone), Tom Allan (trumpet) and Eric Rohner (tenor saxophone).

Discography

;Studio albums *''Turbulent Times'' (2002) *''Identity'' (2007) *''You No Fit Touch Am'' (2015) *''Cubafrobeat'' (with Lokkhi Terra) (2018) *''Take to the Streets'' (with Eparapo) (2023) ;Remix albums *''You No Fit Touch Am In Dub'' (with Prince Fatty and Nostalgia 77) (2016) ;EPs *''Too Much Information (Remixes)'' (2015) *''You No Fit Touch Am Retouched'' (2015) *''You No Fit Touch Am Retouched 2'' (2017) *''State of Play'' (with Medlar) (2022) *''The Confluence'' (with The Estuary 21) (2023) ;Singles *"Too Much Information" (2013) *"Sanctuary" (2014) *"Full Moon" (2020)

References

External links

Dele Sosimi

Dele Sosimi , B i o g r a p h y
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sosimi, Dele 1963 births British world music musicians English funk musicians English male singers English people of Yoruba descent Living people Musicians from the London Borough of Hackney Singers from the London Borough of Hackney Yoruba musicians Yoruba-language singers from the United Kingdom