Orlando Julius
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"kawa oma ranti, ranti ile o, isedale baba awa" [we will always remember the roots of our parents] --Orlando Julius as featured on "Going Back to My Roots" (1977) by Lamont Dozier |
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Orlando Julius (1943 – 2022) was a Nigerian composer, saxophonist, singer, bandleader, and songwriter closely associated with afrobeat music, known for such compositions as "Ashiko" (pre-1975).
His voice and text "kawa oma ranti, ranti ile o, isedale baba awa" [we will always remember the roots of our parents] is also heard on "Going Back to My Roots" (1977) by Lamont Dozier.
Julius got his start playing drums or flute with juju and konkoma bands and learned saxophone to play highlife music, eventually playing with musicians Jazz Romero, Rex Williams, and Eddy Okonta. He began experimenting with combining traditional music with horns, guitar, and American genres, a fusion which came to be known as afrobeat.
He had his first hits with 1965's "Jagua Nana" and the 1966 album Super Afro Soul.
In the 1970s, Julius moved to the United States, forming a band with Hugh Masekela and later working as a session musician before returning to Nigeria in 1984. A series of reissues in the 2000s and 2010s led to international touring and a collaboration with The Heliocentrics which reached the Billboard World Albums chart.
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