King Sunny Ade And His African Beat

King Sunny Ade, sometimes also

called the Minister of Enjoyment,

was born in Oshogbo, Nigeria in

1946, the son of a Methodist

minister. He began his musical

career when, after dropping out

of grammer school, he drifted

to Lagos and joined a highlife

band. Inspired by the music of

I.K. Dairo, he joined the Rhythm

Dandies, led by Moses Olaiya

(later known as Baba Sala,

Nigeria's preeminent funny man

and a prolific film maker). King

Sunny was influenced by the

legendary Tunde Nightingale

(early Juju pioneer

extraordinare) and borrowed

stylistic elements from

Nightingale's 'So wa mbe' style

of juju.

In 1966 he formed his own

band, the Green Spots. After a

long eight years in which they

recorded 12 LPs for the Nigeria-

Africa Song label, in 1974 he

entered into increasingly

annoying contract hassles and a

public court case. This

experience prompted him into

forming his own recording

company linked to Decca

Records. At this time he changed

the name of his band to the

African Beats.

King Sunny Ade and The African

Beats tour with the typically

large African line-up of 20-30

members. They play a spacey,

jamming sort of Juju,

characterized by tight vocal

harmonies, intricate guitar

work, backed by traditional

talking drums, percussion

instruments, and even adding

the unusual pedal steel guitar

and accordian