Afrobeat ambassador Dele Sosimi’s new album has been recorded and produced with Essex musician Sam Duckworth, aka Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly; and a team of specially assembled musicians under the banner of “The Estuary 21” – with the name of the nearby river and the year, being a clue to future Confluence projects. Recorded over a multitude of sessions in 2021, this new set of songs flow with the sounds of Afrobeat, jazz, and worldly pop, and feelings of freedom, strength, and collaborative dynamism as a balm for life changing events. Following on from the BBC 6Music playlisted ‘Mo Ṣe B’ọ́ lá Tán’, which alongside with ‘Ride Out The Storm’, received huge support from Lauren Laverne, Gilles Peterson, Cerys Matthews, Gideon Coe and Radio 2’s Jamie Cullum, amongst others, comes ‘Ẹ Si M’ẹ̀dọ̀’, featuring Nigerian powerhouse vocalist Lizzy Dosunmu.
“Ẹ Si M’ẹ̀dọ̀’, meaning ‘chill’ in Yoruba, is in line with the spirit of previous two singles. A reminder of the importance to chill whilst still firming up and staying alert to the pitfalls and vicissitudes of life.” Dele Sosimi
“This song started out as a great heater of a jam that kicked into life with the interplay between Pete Fraser (sax) and the rhythms of Callum Green (Drums) and Phil Van Den Brandeler (Bass) leaving room for a call and response style vocal arrangement. When you are blessed with a vocalist like Lizzy Dosunmu it’s always fun to let the mic roll and see what happens. What we were blessed with was a stunning intro to this track, that is visceral but also graceful, the perfect marriage to the music and a great opening vocal call to arms on the record.” Sam Duckworth
Dele and Sam were introduced at Felabration 2012, the annual commemoration of the music of Fela Kuti, and promised to work together in the near future. With many live collaborations, at Afrobeat Vibration, Kentish Town Forum and lots of hanging out and mutual love, nearly ten years passed before the two musicians connected in Sam’s hometown of Southend-On-Sea in a post-lockdown creative boom, recording the album over a burst of week-long sessions in 2021. The Estuary 21 band is completed by Callum Green (The Sleeping Souls/GCWCF), Philip Van Den Brandeler (Pocket Dragon/GCWCF), Pete Fraser (The Pogues, Field Music), Afla Sackey (Afla Sackey & Afrik Bawantu/Ibibio Sound Machine), Aby Dosunmu (Dele Sosimi), Sam Ewens (Myles Sanko) with special guest appearances from Sam Eagle and Essex Percussion legend, Snowboy.
Born in Hackney, East London, but soon to return to his parents’ native Nigeria at the age of four, Dele Sosimi was schooled and raised in Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s commune (which he now refers to as his university of life). After Fela’s passing in 1997, Dele went on to focus on developing his solo career and, honing his creative talents, and with much patience on his part, carved out his own Afrobeat crown. His last album, ‘You No Fit Touch Am’ (2015), was a critical success with Songlines writing “Afrobeat will never die so long as Dele’s around”, Clash declaring it “blistering Afro-funk from a true legend”, The Quietus calling it “so fresh, while staying true to the template”, and David Hutcheon’s four star Mojo review said it was “a deeper, moodier collection than other Shrine veterans have released lately”.
A veteran at 36 years old, Sam Duckworth has been releasing music as Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly for half of his life. A catalogue that includes four top 40 singles, two top 40 albums (including the gold certified ‘Chronicles of A Bohemian Teenager’ that recently celebrated its 15th anniversary), a German club number 1 single and collaborations with artists ranging from Shy FX, Baaba Maal, Lily Allen and Jehst. Recently, Duckworth produced Benjamin Frances Leftwich’s album ‘To Carry A Whale’ and has been working on the forthcoming album by Kate Nash.
Radio Play & Reactions
Radio play from Cerys Matthews (BBC 6 Music); Sarah Ward (Jazz FM, UK); Pete Fisher (Jazz & Conversations, SA); Rob Luis (Unfold Radio / Tru Thoughts, UK); Kev Beadle (Mind Fluid, Totally Wired Radio, UK); John Warr (Afrobase, Totally Radio, UK); Jazzcat (Ness Radio, Italy); Bob Hill’s Illicit Grooves Radio Show (Blue In Green Radio, UK); Tidal Highlife Highlights Playlist; Apple Music Worldwide Groove Playlist.
“Sounding very good. What do you reckon?” Cerys Matthews (BBC 6 Music, UK)
“Love it and playing it on my ‘HMYH’ radio show.” Ashley Beedle (Afrikaanz On Marz / XPress 2 / Ballistic Brothers, UK)
“Fantastic!” Thristian (Global Roots / Rinse FM, UK)
“Lovely.. big Dele moves!” Pete On The Corner (On The Corner Records, UK)
“Lovely track! Will get some play for sure.” Jason Palma (Footprints, Toronto, Canada)
“A lovely afrobeat dancer from Dele and the crew!” Steve Johns (Solar Radio, UK)
“Very cool track!” DJ Angola (Space Ibiza NYC, USA)
“Perfect expression of Afrobeat doctrine!” Chris Knight (Astrojazz, Scotland)
“Love Dele Sosimi!” Rustam Ospanoff (Jazzystan / NYC, USA)
“LOVE THIS!!!!!” Junior (Record Breakin’, USA)
“Sweet groove!” Olivier Cavaller (De La Bonne Musique, France)
“Like the new music from Dele Sosimi and actually playing on the radioshow a lot! And this new single sounds super good, too and will be on air inmediately!” Daniel Penacoba (Pure Ibiza radio, Spain)
“Love this single.” Tony Heynen (Global Riddims, Belgium)
“Excellent!” Veronique Prebolin (Radio Kim., France)
“Beautiful, as always!” Dave Bassin (KUSF Radio, USA)
“Great music! Best!” Olgierd (Sofa Surfing, Poland)
“Great! Full radio support on my shows starting right now!” Tiago Santos (Radio Oxigenio, Portugal)
“Loving this! Really hits the spot for me.” Steve KIW (1BTN, Brighton, UK)
“Excellent!” Eric Tchaikovsky (Night Light Radio Show, Ukraine)
“Uplifting vibe; really good.” Valance Stewart (Urban Landscape Radio Show, USA)
“Love it!!” Tom Strauch (Switchstance recordings, Germany)
“Very nice this from Dele, always on point with his afro energy, will be supporting!!” Alan O’Malley (RTE Pulse, Dublin, Ireland)
“Amazing!” Enrique Domenech (Freeform Podcasts, Spain)
“I love it.” Rado Tomek (NuSpirit, Slovakia)
“Gold and silk.” Dan Deep Tenor City (Soho Radio, UK)
“I adore everything Dele puts out and this is another sunshine filled gem.” DJ Mr Lob (Various, Australia)
“If this is a taster of the album to come then I can’t wait to hear more. Great track, lovely groove.” Bob Hill (Totally Wired Radio, UK)
“Dele forever.” Francis Gay (Bunkhouse Europa, Germany)
“A pure traditionnal afrobeat, back to the roots, love it.” Amar babouche (Fauve Radio, Hong Kong)
“Nice!” Jon Freer (Freer Sounds, UK)
“Great!!!” Markus Milz (Radio Corax, Germany)
“Please to see something of a return to his afrobeat roots. Dosunmo’s vocals are back in the mix which is a pity but fits the lighter production. Will be playing it on the show.” Jon Warr (Radio Reverb, UK)
“Bright and breezy! Nice one.” Bean Noodler (Various, UK)
“afrobeat mytique” Jean Marc Baehler (Radio Television Suisse Romande Couleur3, Switzerland)
“Nice and snappy too. Been getting too many 8 minutes long tracks recently. They work great for home listening DJs but I’m finding dance floors (or possibly me) have short attention spans lately. God I wish Fela Kuti had done more short tracks!” DJ Griff (Jelly Jazz, UK)
“3 minutes of everything I love about music.” Jamie Renton (Chilli Fried, UK)
“Nice shuffling vibe great vocal.” Paul Knight (Reform Radio, UK)
“Another amazing release from the talented Dele Sosimi and The Estuary 21.” DJ Osric (RTR FM, Australia)
“You can smell the beat!” Aja Allsop (Ketch-A-Vibe, UK)
“Super track.” Robert Lochmann (Radio X, Germany)
“Excellent – will play.” DJ Lamp (Coalition, Brighton, UK)
“Nice tune!” Sven Thomschke (Radio Z 95.8FM, Germany)
“Chill indeed from top to toe tapping great production.” DJ Abbo (Stomp Radio, UK)
“Love this track, and cant wait to hear the full album.” Marky Mark Johnson (Radio Reverb, UK)
“Lovely.” George Higham (Shades Recordings, UK)
“The finest Afrobeat around at the moment.” Gerry Hectic (You And The Music, UK)
“Absolutely lovely stuff from the maestro on yet another arresting project. Lovely interplay between horns and rhythm and a cracking vocal from Lizzy Dosonmu. The best thing out of the area since the Kursaals?” Drummie Dave (Various, UK)
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