More Info on Babatunde OlatunjiSimilar Undetermined MusicSearch Artistopia
Biography
Infobox musical artist | name = Babatunde Olatunji | image = Babatunde Olatunji Drums of Passion.jpg| caption = Percussion master Babatunde Olatunji on the cover of his groundbreaking 1959 release Drums of Passion (album)|Drums of Passion | image_size =| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist| birth_name =| alias =| birth_date = Birth date|1927|4|7|mf=y|birth_place =Ajido, Lagos State , Nigeria | death_date = death date and age|2003|4|6|1927|4|7|mf=y| origin = New York City , United States | instrument = Drums | genre = World music | occupation = Musician | years_active = 1959–2003| label = Columbia Records|Columbia , Sony Music Entertainment|CBS , Narada Productions|Narada , Virgin Records|Virgin , EMI Records|EMI | associated_acts =| website = URL| http://www.olatunjimusic.com| notable_instruments = Babatunde Olatunji (April 7, 1927–April 6, 2003) was a Nigeria n drum mer, educator, social activist and recording artist.
Biography
Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido , a small town near Badagry , Lagos State , in southwestern Nigeria . A member of the Yoruba people , Olatunji was introduced to traditional African music at an early age. He read in '' Reader's Digest '' magazine about the Rotary International Foundation's scholarship program, and applied for it. He went to the United States|United States of America in 1950.
Education
Olatunji received a Rotary scholarship in 1950 and was educated at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia , where he desired to, but never sang in the Morehouse College Glee Club .cite web |url= http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/accessatlanta/reviews/entries/2006/12/07/ |title=REVIEW: Christmas with the ASO |last=Ruhe |first=Pierre |date=2006-12-07 |work=Palm Beach Post |accessdate=2010-11-01Olatunji was a good friend of Glee Club director Dr. Wendell P. Whalum and collaborated with him on a staple of the choir's repertoire, "Betelehemu", a Nigerian Christmas carol. After graduating from Morehouse, he went on to New York University to study public administration. There, he started a small percussion group to earn money on the side while he continued his studies.cite web|url= http://africanmusic.org/artists/olatunji.html|title=Babatunde Olatunji1927 - 2003|date=May 2003|publisher=African Music Encyclopedia|accessdate=6 June 2011
Musical career
Olatunji won a following among jazz musicians, notably creating a strong relationship with John Coltrane and Columbia Records A& R man John H. Hammond|John Hammond who signed him to the Columbia label in 1957. With Coltrane's help, he founded the Olatunji Center for African Culture in Harlem . This was the site of Coltrane's final performance. In 1959 Olatunji released his first of six records on the Columbia label, called Drums of Passion (album)|Drums of Passion .
In 1969, Carlos Santana had a major hit with his cover version of this first album's " Jin-go-lo-ba ", which Santana recorded on his debut album, Santana (1969 album)|Santana , as "Jingo." Olatunji favoured a big percussion sound, and his records typically featured more than 20 players, unusual for a percussion based ensemble. Drums of Passion became a major hit and remains in print; it introduced many Americans to world music . Drums of Passion also served as the band's name. Notable band members included; Clark Terry , Bill Lee (musician)|Bill Lee , Horace Silver , Yusef Lateef , Sikiru Adepoju and Charles Lloyd (jazz musician)|Charles Lloyd , among others.
Olatunji's subsequent recordings include Drums of Passion: The Invocation (1988), Drums of Passion: The Beat (1989) (which included Airto Moreira and Carlos Santana ), Love Drum Talk (1997), Circle of Drums (2005) (originally titled Cosmic Rhythm Vibrations , with Muruga Booker and Sikiru Adepoju ), and Olatunji Live at Starwood (2003 – recorded at the 1997 Starwood Festival http://www.freetimes.com/story/3493) with guest Halim El-Dabh . He also contributed to Peace Is The World Smiling: A Peace Anthology For Families on the Music For Little People label (1993).
Olatunji recorded with many other prominent musicians (often credited as "Michael Olatunji"), including Cannonball Adderley (on his African Waltz (1961) album), Horace Silver , Quincy Jones , Pee Wee Ellis , Stevie Wonder , Randy Weston , and with Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln on the pivotal Freedom Now Suite aka We Insist , and with Grateful Dead member Mickey Hart on his Grammy winning Planet Drum projects. He is also mentioned in the lyrics of Bob Dylan|Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Free" as recorded on the album '' The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan .
Film and theatre
Olatunji composed music for the Broadway theatre|Broadway theatrical and Hollywood film productions of Raisin in the Sun . He assisted Bill Lee (musician)|Bill Lee with the music for his son Spike Lee 's hit film '' She's Gotta Have It .
Social activism
Olatunji was known for making an impassioned speech for social justice before performing in front of a live audience. His Progressivism|progressive political beliefs are outlined in The Beat Of My Drum: An Autobiography , with a foreword by Joan Baez , ( Temple University Press, 2005). He toured the American south with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr and joined King in the march on Washington . When he performed before the United Nations General Assembly, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev took off his shoes and danced. Later, he was one of the first outside performers to perform in Prague at Václav Havel 's request. On July 21, 1979, he appeared at the Amandla Festival along with Bob Marley , Dick Gregory , Patti LaBelle and Eddie Palmieri , amongst others.
Teaching career
Olatunji was also a music educator, and invented a method of teaching and recording drum patterns which he called the "Gun-Dun, Go-Do, Pa-Ta" method after the different sounds made on the drum.
Olatunji taught drum and dance workshops year-round starting in the late 1950s. Over the years he presented workshops nationally and internationally at colleges, universities, civic, cultural, and governmental organizations too numerous to list here.
He co-wrote, Musical Instruments of Africa: Their Nature, Use and Place in the Life of a Deeply Musical People with Betty Warner-Dietz (John Day Company, 1965). He taught a summer drumming and African dance course with his wife, at the OmegaInstitute in Rhinebeck, New York for many summers during Family week. He also taught at the Esalen Institute in California from 1985 until shortly before his death in Salinas, California from diabetes in 2003, on the day before his 76th birthday.
Awards
Olatunji was part of Mickey Hart's Planet Drum projects, including the album Planet Drum , which won the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album of 1991, the first year for which the award was given. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html? res=9E0CE3D91438F934A15751C0A964958260 "The Grammy Winners", New York Times , February 27, 1992
He was an inductee into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 2001. http://www.pas.org/experience/halloffame.aspx Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame website
2012: Mysterium Tremendum – Mickey Hart Band (360° Productions)
Bibliography
Musical Instruments of Africa: Their Nature, Use and Place in the Life of a Deeply Musical People (1965) with Betty Warner-Dietz. John Day Company OCLC: 592096
The Beat Of My Drum: An Autobiography (2005) (with a foreword by Joan Baez ). Temple University Press ISBN 1-59213-354-1, ISBN 978-1-59213-354-3
See also
Polyrhythm
References
reflist
Reference to Starwood Festival appearance in poet Ray McNiece bio http://www.raymcniece.com/raymcniecethepoet.htm
Referred to in Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Free" from the album ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (1963)
External links
http://www.olatunjimusic.com/ Babatunde Olatunji's official website
http://africanmusic.org/artists/olatunji.html Babatunde Olatunji at the African Music Encyclopedia
http://www.after-science.com/olatunji/ Babatunde Olatunji's personal page
http://archive.salon.com/people/feature/2000/01/08/olatunji/index1.html/ Salon Feature on Olatunji
http://www.furious.com/Perfect/olatunji.html Interview with Olatunji, October 2000
Persondata | NAME = Olatunji, Babatunde | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH = April 7, 1927 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Ajido, Lagos State , Nigeria | DATE OF DEATH = April 6, 2003 | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Olatunji, Babatunde Category:1927 births Category:2003 deaths Category:Columbia Records artists Category:Deaths from diabetes Category:Djembe players Category:People from Salinas, California Category:Nigerian percussionists Category:Planet Drum members Category:Morehouse College alumni Category:Master drummers Category:New York University alumni Category:Nigerian drummers Category:Nigerian musicians Category:Yoruba people
