DELE SOSIMI & THE ESTUARY 21 / STORIES FEAT. GET CAPE. WEAR CAPE. FLY

Following on from the huge success of ‘The Confluence EP’, Afrobeat ambassador Dele Sosimi and Essex musician Sam Duckworth, aka Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly, alongside a team of specially assembled musicians – The Estuary 21 – bring you another taste of what’s to come from the highly anticipated full LP, out this spring.

The songs on the album continue the freestyle flow of Afrobeat, jazz, and worldly pop, coupled with feelings of freedom, strength, positivity and collaborative dynamism as a balm for life changing events.

The new single is the instantly catchy and joyous ‘Stories’, a song that almost seemed to take the band by surprise, as Sam explains:

“It’s one of those wonderful songs that seemingly comes out of nowhere. It started off as a jam for another project of Dele’s and hung about on the computer for ages. The bones were special, that was very clear, but the song wasn’t quite clicking. Late one evening, to clear our heads from another song, we dug through the sessions. I remember saying to Dele, there’s something special in this and him heading outside for ten minutes. There’s a corner in the studio courtyard where, in his words, Dele ‘downloads’ which has now been labelled the ‘inspiration corner.’ I hear ‘I’ve got it’ with the enthusiastic and energetic energy only an inspired Dele can bring. With the song blaring out the door, he sang me the first verse in its entirety. It was a special moment, you could feel the history and poignancy flowing out of him. We sketched the song out and let it digest for a bit. Next time we were all together, for the Jazz Café rehearsals, we decided to see if it fit in the set. Mics were set up for a live recording, so we knew if it clicked we’d get a demo. What happened next was magic. Afla (Sackey) and Callum (Green) were as one, Dele in the pocket and the song was springing. This rehearsal magic ended up being the new skeleton and the arrangement took form on its journey to its first performance three days later and was finished before the show. The energy of this project is often like a bolting animal, one you need to ride all the way home. This song encapsulates that energy and the depth to Dele’s lyrics and its connections to the past and the current moment in time. It’s a joy to sing and a joy to play guitar on, capturing the spirit of The Estuary 21 in a nutshell. You can hear all our collective histories (musical and social) distilled into one quick sonic blast. It went down a treat at the show and felt like the missing link in the cannon.”

‘Stories’ is indeed a song with an incredibly uplifting feel, but one that belies a more serious narrative, as Dele goes on:

“(The song has) a deep longing, yearning need and desire to hear the untold true stories of how we got to where we are today. Dedicated to ‘truth be told’ warriors, campaigners, agitators et al, known and unknown, inactive due to becoming an ancestor, alive and yet to be born. For tomorrow is another day.”

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.