King Sunny Adé - Juju Music

In Nigeria they call him 'Chairman King Sunny Adé. The prefix succinctly reflects Adés role in JuJu Music, the prime popular music of the Yoruba people. If JuJu Music is BIG in Nigeria, then Sunny Ade is undoubtedly the biggest. Even a casual look at the Nigerian charts over the last year will reveal a constant stream of number one hits for Sunny Adé. Indeed, it's unknown for a Sunny Adé album to sell less than 200,000 copies: and the man has released some 40 albums during the past decade. JuJu accounts for a massive part of the Nigerian record business. An estimated 12 million records, for instance, will be sold in 1982. Yet despite its mass acceptance, JuJu Music has never lost its special 'roots' quality. it is, simply, a tough modern dance music freely drawing on the traditions of the Yoruba, Nigeria's largest tribe. JuJu Music is rooted in the complex call and response between the talking drums and the singers. Although the music has been around since the Twenties, contemporary .111.1u Music really took shape with the introduction of Western instruments in the Fifties. Electric guitars, for instance, are now central. To Western ears the electric guitar is the dominant sound, its tunings and its harmonies lending a unique distinction.

Other components include steel guitars and, more recently, synthesisers (which make an extraordinary blend with the traditional talking drums). Sunny Adé, with his band. The African Beats, has pioneered many of the innovations in JuJu Music, constantly embarking on new ideas and using the full resources of the modern recording studio, The African Beats, for example, was the first band to use Hawaiian guitar, synthesiser and now, on this new album, even reggae-style Dub effects. Sunny Adés new album, called simply JUJU MUSIC, was recorded in Lome, the capital of the West African state of Togo. It was mixed in London. The tunes featured on JUJU MUSIC are established favourites from Adés bulging repertoire, perhaps the best introduction that can he made to the Chairman's music. "JuJu music is essentially party music.. the fans out there want to dance and the rhythm is basically simple and, once you hook it up, it flows endlessly," says Sunny. it really is a very rich music."

1. Ja Funmi 7:08
2. Eje Nlo Gba Ara Mi 7:14
3. Mo Beru Agba 3:27
4. Sunny Ti De Ariya 3:46
5. Ma Jaiye Oni 5:07
6. 365 Is My Number/ The Message 8:16
7. Samba/ E Falaba Lewe 8:07

juju
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Jùjú is a style of Nigerian popular music, derived from traditional Yoruba percussion. The name comes from a Yoruba word "juju" or "jiju" meaning "throwing" or "something being thrown." Juju music did not derive its name from juju, which "is a form of magic and the use of magic objects or witchcraft common in West Africa, Haiti, Cuba and other South American nations." It evolved in the 1920s in urban clubs across the countries, and was believed to have been created by AbdulRafiu Babatunde King, popularly known as Tunde King. The first jùjú recordings were by Tunde King and Ojoge Daniel from the same era of the 1920s when Tunde King pioneered it. The lead and predominant instrument of Jùjú is the Iya Ilu,"' talking drum. Some Jùjú musicians were itinerant, including early pioneers Ojoge Daniel, Irewole Denge and the "blind minstrel" Kokoro.

Afro-juju is a style of Nigerian popular music, a mixture of Jùjú music and Afrobeat. Its most famous exponent was Shina Peters, who was so popular that the press called the phenomenon "Shinamania". Afro-juju's peak of popularity came in the early 1990s.
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