Afro-Pop Pioneer Brings Rare Tour To Slim's
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Along with his influential contemporary and Afrobeat founder Fela Kuti, African music legend King Sunny Adé stands as one of the most prominent Nigerian players to make an impact on the global music scene. Active as a guitarist and songwriter from the age of 20, Adé got his start playing in highlife bands in Lagos during the 1960s before founding his first group, the Green Spots, in 1967.
The bandleader changed the name of his outfit several times through the following decade, eventually settling on the moniker Adé would bring to worldwide fame, the African Beats. The group rivaled Fela Kuti and Africa 70 as Nigeria's most popular music act as Adé and his entourage refined their unique sound that found multiple guitarists interweaving melodic lines over a dense bed of Yoruban talking drums. Onstage, the music mixed with the dexterous dance moves of the electrifying 20+ member ensemble made for an unforgettable live experience.
It was in the early '80s that King Sunny Adé and his African Beats would break through to a global audience. Signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records in the wake of Bob Marley's passing in 1981, the band issued it's first album to see worldwide release the following year with Juju Music. A huge critical and commercial success, the recording introduced Adé's joyous music to a massive new audience both in the States and Europe, helping establish "world music" as a genre.
The band's reputation for fiery marathon performances and subsequent hit albums Synchro System and Aura made Adé and the African Beats a popular live attraction during regular tours in North America into the '90s. While his recorded output became harder to find in the U.S. as time went on (with the exception of a couple of one-off efforts for Rykodisc and Atlantic), Adé remains revered as one of the modern music giants of Africa.
With his visits to the States coming less frequently as he approaches his 70th birthday (his last full U.S. tour was seven years ago), the King's summer tour was a hotly anticipated jaunt anchored by celebratory headlining shows at New York City's Central Park Summerstage and Chicago's Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. This chance to see King Sunny Adé and company in a club setting at Slim's in San Francisco stands as a rare opportunity for fans of his music. El Duo, a local lo-fi African-meets-electronica group featuring members of Bay Area Ethiopian jazz ensemble Sun Hop Fat, opens the show.
King Sunny Adé
Saturday, August 13, 7 p.m. $26-$30
Slim's
