Afrobeat No Go Die!
We meet at Cafe Otto in Dalston. Dele’s already there, taking a call. He waves me over with a welcoming smile, and then chastises me for coming late. Apologies fly like bacon at a food fight; I offer a drink in compensation, he accepts a cappuccino, but we have less than an hour, Mr Sosimi is a busy man. I’m already ordering his beverage when DJ Koichi walks in, and apologies for being late. Somehow I end up buying him a latte.
DJ Koichi and Dele Sosimi (full name Bamidele Sosimi) are the founders of Afrobeat Vibrations, London’s biggest and most authentic bi-monthly Afrobeat night, FACT; they’ve been quietly toiling underground since 2008, Koichi manning the decks while Dele provides the live show with his eight to fifteen (!) piece band, and now have a constant dedicated following to show for it. And as for authentic: Dele was a member of Egypt 80, working directly under Fela Anikulapo-Kuti from ’79 to 86 and he worked his son Femi Kuti in the Positive Force. With two albums, ‘Turbulent Times,’ and ‘Identity,’ as well as numerous afrobeat compilations and collaborations (with TY on ‘Sweating for Your Salary’) as well as a touring history stretching from the Montreal Jazz Festival to Norway, very few can claim to have dedicated more time and energy or have more of a lineage with the Afrobeat genre than Mr Sosimi – unless they are named Allen or Kuti. ‘He’s an authentic Kalakuta citizen,’ DJ Koichi chips in.
I make the stupid look.
‘Fela named his residence Kalakuta Republic, a republic within a country,’ explains Sosimi. ‘Dele is the only one in London from Kalakuta Republic adds DJ Koichi. Dele describes Afrobeat Vibrations as a ‘deep movement, that will infect you, make you reflect, affect you, and once you get a feel of it, you will not be able to stay away from us.’
I ask Sosimi the one burning question on my mind: what was Fela like to him? Dele’s eyes light up. He serves up a rosy history: ‘I was one of the victims of the post-oil boom. My dad, a highly celebrated banker, was the first to be assassinated in Nigeria. I was 13 when it happened, I was friends with Femi, and he introduced me to him (Fela). The first thing Fela said to me was, ‘So, tell me, tell me exactly what happened?’ and when he found out it was based on corrupt practices that [my father] was about to expose, immediately he was like ‘wow, I must fight on behalf of your family, because I believe you did not get justice.’ He started interrogating: ‘Are you getting any counselling?’ I wasn’t aware that such a thing existed that if you’ve gone through trauma, you actually should have some therapy, counselling, something like that. Immediately Fela was my hero. I was always happy to hang around him. Also I was very musical and he saw it in me. The minute I finished high school, he was very happy to have me in the band, I think I was the youngest member, 15 going on 16 at the time.’
I then ask Sosimi to tell me more about Fela the musician and band leader. ‘Oh my God,’ Dele Sosimi gently sways, ‘that’s another story. But, most of what I am today as a musician, is through that discipline I went through.’ Nowadays Dele is keeping that afrobeat flame alight with Afrobeat Vibrations and his musical projects, ‘We’re taking it to Brazil!’ he announces. ‘Afrobeat is not a sub genre, as it has been wrongly categorized, it’s actually a genre, but apparently it’s still in the underground. Most of the fans have been loyal, faithful, because when it hits you, you hang on to it. Afrobeat Vibrations is non a stop four hour live performance, and when we stop, they (the crowd) are saying to us ‘no you can’t stop man,’ and I’m like, ‘do you realise you’ve been on the dance floor for four hours?’ then they realise it’s 4.30am. But I let them ask for an encore for five minutes first.! A tiny mischief lines his grin.
Afrobeat Vibrations: Sat 30 Jan @ The Empowering Church. More details here
dele was my classmate is secondary school. I believe the teachers then were not able to understand the trauma he was going through-watching his father killed right in his presence at such a tender age of 13 or so.
It is a testimony of his resilince that he is what he is today.
HELICOPTER- a salute your courage, you are a worthy ambassador of the afrobeat genre. More notes to your elbows.