Babatunde Olatunji

As one of the first great traditional African drummers to make it to America, Babatunde Olatunji's wild, expressive rhythms and lung-bellowing chants influenced some of the biggest artists of the 1960s and helped pioneer Afrobeat and world music across the globe. Born in the small fishing village of Ajido in Nigeria, 40 miles north of Lagos, Olatunji spent his childhood drumming with his great aunt and the master percussionists of the area learning the traditional, spiritual importance of rhythms to his Youraba ethnic heritage. Thanks to a scholarship from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia he made it to the United States in 1950 and was pursuing a career as a diplomat before the drum ensemble he'd formed in New York began attracting the admiration and interest of legendary jazz musicians like John Coltrane and Count Basie. His performances at civil rights events led by fellow Morehouse graduate Martin Luther King Jr. were spotted by producer John Hammond who signed him to Columbia Records and his 1960 debut album 'Drums of Passions' became a huge success, selling over five million copies. Recognised by some critics as the first notable world music album, it introduced the thrilling, life affirming soul of African music to a new western audience and gave Olatunji the platform to work on records by Cannonball Adderley, Max Roach and Horace Silver. Psychedelic, Latin-rock heroes Santana covered his song 'Jin-Go-Lo-Ba' at the Woodstock Festival and later released it as their first single and John Coltrane composed the track 'Tunji' in his honour and helped him set up the Centre for African Culture in Harlem. Albums 'Zungo!' and 'Flaming Drums!' were also a big influence on Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart, who recruited Olatunji to perform on his Grammy-winning 'Planet Drum' album in 1991 and sampled his vocals on 2007's 'Global Drum Project'. Later in his career he collaborated with Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones and Taj Mahal, worked on the soundtrack to Spike Lee's movie 'She's Gotta Have It' and played with Carlos Santana and Airota Moreira on his popular 1986 record 'Drums of Passion: The Beat'. He died in San Francisco in 2003 aged 76 after suffering with diabetes, but his posthumous album 'Circle of Drums' was nominated for a Grammy in 2005 and his legacy endures.

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