Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra

Own brand Afrobeat from Fela's old keyboard player
It wasn't a bad start to a musician's career. At the age of just 16 - and while most teenagers are content with a paper round - Dele Sosimi secured the keyboard player's berth in the legendary Egypt 80 band of one Fela Anikulapo Kuti. For an aspiring Afrobeat musician, it was the equivalent of a football-mad urchin lining up in Barcelona's starting 11. Even better would come. Within five years - and while Kuti Sr was detained at the Nigerian government's pleasure - Fela's son Femi assumed the leadership of the band and placed his school pal Dele in the role of musical director. The youngsters would work together for another decade before, in the mid-90s, Dele packed his bags for London and the opportunity to be a larger fish in a smaller Afrobeat pond. And being his own man has really suited him, allowing the realisation of his own vision - one that's faithful to the Fela blueprint but also clearly bears Dele's own DNA.
(Biography written by Nige Tassell 2010)