King Sunny Ade & His African Beats

Wednesday, Apr 14 8:00p

at The Ark, Ann Arbor, MI

" A great ambassador of the African beat " A member of a Yoruba royal family, King Sunny Ade was born Sunday Adeniyi in Nigeria's Ondo state in 1946. He developed the genre of juju music out of the old Nigerian highlife style, weaving a vast tapestry of traditional and modern elements into a breathtakingly dynamic stage presentation that in the 1980s packed venues the size of Chicago's Soldier Field. read more

" A great ambassador of the African beat " A member of a Yoruba royal family, King Sunny Ade was born Sunday Adeniyi in Nigeria's Ondo state in 1946. He developed the genre of juju music out of the old Nigerian highlife style, weaving a vast tapestry of traditional and modern elements into a breathtakingly dynamic stage presentation that in the 1980s packed venues the size of Chicago's Soldier Field. There's a little bit of everything in juju music: the rhythms are incredible, the strong, commentary-style quality of the Yoruba-language texts influenced King Sunny Ade's successor, Fela Kuti -- and the unexpected flavor of country pedal steel guitar in Nigerian music is King Sunny Ade's work as well. In recent years, he has devoted much of his energy to running a large variety of for-profit and nonprofit enterprises in Nigeria, where people who used to call him the Minister of Enjoyment now call him the Chairman instead. Last year he launched a comeback tour that included a performance at the Bonaroo festival in Tennessee. A King Sunny Ade concert is a kinetic experience in which many things seem to be happening all at once on stage, all coming together into a rich whole. Tonight's concert is a unique chance to hear one of the greatest figures in world music of the past century.