By combining Western influences and modern instrumentation with traditional Nigerian Yorumba drumming, King Sunny Ade is one of the most important African artists to transcend international boundaries.

Noted as one of the pioneers of world music (including two Grammy nominations), King Sunny is more specifically known as the cultural ambassador to a genre known as juju music.

“Juju music is a happy music,” explains Ade. “It is music taken by my ancestors, piece by piece from different musical shrines in the olden days. … When the colonials heard the music and didn’t know what it was, they called it ‘juju’ because the African tambourine is called juju. African tambourine is where I throw it to you, you throw it to me, I throw it to you. Ju … ju … ju … ju.”

Forming his first juju band in 1967, Ade would eventually revolutionize the genre by adding more members, modern technology and rock ’n’ roll instrumentation. Finding influences throughout the world, Ade’s interest in guitar styles would ultimately define his signature brand of juju.

“There are so many ideas taken from other musics. I love playing guitar because I saw people like I.K. Dairo from Nigeria, and people like Jimi Hendrix play with a wah-wah and how B.B. King played with his fingers. One day I was listening to country music and I wanted to find out what kind of instrument made that one sound. Then I saw a picture of it, and when I came to London in 1971 I decided to buy one. Lucky enough for me, one of the members of the band had a small knowledge of it so we were able to get the tune of the African music in it. I changed the African violin parts to pedal steel. That’s how we introduced the pedal steel to African music.”

With those jubilant call and response vocals bouncing around an arsenal of percussion and intertwined guitars, Ade’s songs of celebration have ranged from epic length to shorter numbers. One thing is for sure, despite his 62 years, he shows no sign of slowing.

“My band and I believe that this is what we love to do. When we finish one recording, we already have songs ready for the next one. We play together and create onstage so we always have new material. We have over 113 recordings now, apart from the singles, and we are about to record another one at the end of this tour.”

King Sunny Ade
Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.
Museum of Fine Arts
465 Huntington Ave., Boston
SOLD OUT
www.mfa.org

Saturday, 2 p.m.
Prospect Park Bandshell
Prospect Park West and 9th Street, Brooklyn
Free, 718-965-8951
www.prospectpark.org