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Oleku Band formed in 2006 from a group of Nigerian musicians that had
settled in and around Dublin over the preceding 6 years. Lead by
composer/arranger Allen-Taylor Adeniyi, originally from Abeokuta in SW
Nigeria the birth place of Fela Kuti, the band plays authentic Afrobeat
and Highlife from their Nigerian (Yoruba) roots.
Oleku made their debut Irish performance in 2007 at a festival in
Cork City and have since graced many stages at festivals around Ireland,
including The National Ploughing Championships in Tullamore, and the
Festival of World Cultures in Dun Laoghaire on a number of occasions.
In 2010 Oleku
toured ireland aided by funding from the Music Network touring
awards where they played at festivals in Kinsale, Letterkenny, Dun
Laoghaire & Cork as well as venue concerts in Bray, Waterford.
In April 2011 Oleku travelled to Eger in Hungary where they
performed at Eger Ethno-Fest to great acclaim, they are now Eger's
favourite African Band, were filmed by the local TV station and feted by
the press.
Around this time they were also being filmed by Ireland's national TV
station (RTE) for their news & current affairs programme 'Nationwide' on
RTE 1 and to be broadcast in May 2011. Youtube videos of their trip &
performance in Eger can be viewed by following these links:
OLEKU ROAD
TRIP 1 OLEKU
ROAD TRIP 2
OLEKU ROAD TRIP 3
EGER PERFORMANCE
Singing lead vocals, mostly in Yoruba, Allen-Taylor also plays the
Saxophone & Hammond XB2 organ with backing vocals supplied by his wife
Tomilola, Segun Akano and
Otolorin ‘Oto’ Olalaleye the trumpeter.
Oleku’s rhythm section features Segun Akano on keyboards/percussion with
Otto's son Sammy on bass guitar and
Felix Oludare on
drums. Before moving to Ireland trumpeter ‘Otto’ featured in Femi Kuti’s
band (The Positive Force) based in Lagos.
Originally playing covers of songs by Fela & Femi Kuti all the songs in
Oleku’s current repertoire are now written and arranged by Oleku Band.
As all the musicians are
multi-instrumentalists Oleku Band are able to tour as a smaller than
usual Afrobeat band (as small as a 6 piece) thus reducing tour costs
Allen Taylor released his 3rd
album, the spiritually inspired ‘Oba nla’ in early 2009, and the new
Oleku Album ‘Awesome’ has just been released.
INSTRUMENTATION:
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Tenor/Alto
Saxophone, Trumpet, Stick Congas, Bongos, Shekere, Clef, Bass Guitar,
Electric Guitar, Hammond XB2 Organ,
Korg Trinity, Korg M1, Drum Kit & Vocals
“Some of the best music I ever heard”,
anonymous farmer at the National Ploughing Championships Tullamore 2007.
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