Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra
The UK’s multiple award-winning Afrobeat Ambassador has been consistently flying the Afrobeat flag in the UK since 1995, leading to roles as Musical Director and Afrobeat Music Consultant for the US award winning acclaimed musical FELA! at the National Theatre, South Bank in London (2010-2011).
Dele’s Afrobeat pedigree is impeccable. He was keys player and a musical director in Fela Kuti’s Egypt 80 and subsequently with Fela’s son Co founding & leading Femi Kuti’s Positive Force. Dele’s pulsating live shows demonstrate his vision of Afrobeat – one that is faithful to the original blueprint, but also clearly bears Dele’s own DNA, expanding the horizons of the genre.
Dele toured extensively around the world with Fela and Femi, re-orchestrating and arranging music and also handling the recruiting and training of new musicians. His keyboard work can be heard on Fela‘s Power Show, Original Sufferhead, MOP 1 (Movement of the People), Authority Stealing, Army Arrangeement, ITT (International Thief Thief), and Teacher Don‘t Teach Me Nonsense, and on Femi‘s albums ‘No Cause for Alarm’ and ‘Mind Your Own Business’. Dele has also performed often with Dr Tony Allen, the king of Afrobeat drumming.
Following his first solo album, ‘Turbulent Times’, he was invited to select the tracks for the 3-CD compilation entitled, Essential Afrobeat“ (Uni-versal, 2004), and made waves with subsequent hits and remixes such as the iconic ‘Too Much Information’.
