Babatunde Olatunji – Drums of Passion

I am working on some CD and MP3 compilations that I will share with friends and family over the holidays. Some of these compilations will likely get posted here at some point if I find the time.

In my research process I stumbled upon another great music blog (there are new ones every day now) called Nothing is v2.0, which “specializes primarily in the jazz underground.”

I found some of the “lost” Babatunde Olatunji albums I had been looking for. I say “lost” because the All Music Guide (AMG) lists the world famous Drums of Passion (1959) as never being out of print, but there is no listing for Zungo! (1961) or the incredible Flaming Drums (1962) and Soul Makossa (1973) is hidden away here. The Zungo! album still eludes me, so if you know where I can find a download, please post a comment here.

Despite his international fame, Olatunji remains on the margins – even in those few remaining independent records stores. I highly recommend grabbing anything you can find by him.

If you like African drumming, be sure to check out my post on Ade Bashorun.

You can listen to Olatunji’s “Hail the King” (from the Flaming Drums LP) in the player below:

Biographical information below is from wikipedia:

Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, a small town near Badagry, Lagos State, in southwestern Nigeria. A member of the Yoruba people, Olatunji was introduced to traditional African music at an early age. He read in Reader’s Digest magazine about the Rotary International Foundation’s scholarship program, and applied for it. He came to the United States of America in 1950.

Education

Olatunji received a Rotary scholarship in 1950 and was educated at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. After graduating from Morehouse, he went on to New York University to study public administration. There, he started a small percussion group to earn money on the side while he continued his studies.

Musical career

Olatunji won a following among jazz musicians, notably creating a strong relationship with John Coltrane and Columbia Records A&R man John Hammond who signed him to the Columbia label in 1957. With Coltrane’s help, he founded the Olatunji Center for African Culture in Harlem. This was the site of Coltrane’s final performance.

In 1959 Olatunji released his first of six records on the Columbia label, called Drums of Passion. In 1969, Carlos Santana had a major hit with his cover version of this first album’s “Jin-go-lo-ba,” which Santana recorded on his debut album, Santana, as “Jingo.” Olatunji favoured a big percussion sound, and his records typically featured more than 20 players, unusual for a percussion based ensemble. Drums of Passion became a major hit and remains in print; it introduced many Americans to world music. Drums of Passion also served as the band’s name. Notable band members included; Clark Terry, Bill Lee, Horace Silver, Yusef Lateef, Sikiru Adepoju and Charles Lloyd, among others.

Olatunji’s subsequent recordings include Drums of Passion: The Invocation (1988), Drums of Passion: The Beat (1989) (which included Airto Moreira and Carlos Santana), Love Drum Talk (1997), Circle of Drums (2005) (originally titled Cosmic Rhythm Vibrations, with Muruga Booker and Sikiru Adepoju), and Olatunji Live at Starwood (2003 – recorded at the 1997 Starwood Festival) with guest Halim El-Dabh. He also contributed to “Peace Is The World Smiling: A Peace Anthology For Families” on the Music For Little People label (1989).

Olatunji recorded with many other prominent musicians, including Cannonball Adderley (on his African Waltz album), Horace Silver, Quincy Jones, Pee Wee Ellis, Stevie Wonder, Randy Weston, and with Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln on the pivotal Freedom Now Suite aka We Insist, and with Grateful Dead member Mickey Hart on his Grammy winning Planet Drum projects. He is also mentioned in the lyrics of Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Free” as recorded on the album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.

Film and theatre

Olatunji composed music for the Broadway theatrical and Hollywood film productions of Raisin in the Sun. He assisted Bill Lee with the music for his son Spike Lee’s hit film She’s Gotta Have It.

Social activism

Olatunji was known for making an impassioned speech for social justice before performing in front of a live audience. His progressive political beliefs are outlined in The Beat Of My Drum: An Autobiography, with a foreword by Joan Baez, (Temple University Press, 2005). He toured the American south with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr and joined King in the march on Washington. When he performed before the United Nations General Assembly, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev took off his shoes and danced. Later, he was one of the first outside performers to perform in Prague at Václav Havel’s request. On July 21, 1979, he appeared at the Amandla Festival along with Bob Marley, Dick Gregory, Patti LaBelle and Eddie Palmieri, amongst others.

Teaching career

Olatunji was also a music educator, and invented a method of teaching and recording drum patterns which he called the “Gun-Dun, Go-Do, Pa-Ta” method after the different sounds made on the drum.

Olatunji taught drum and dance workshops year-round starting in the late 1950s. Over the years he presented workshops nationally and internationally at too many colleges, universities, civic, cultural and governmental organizations to list here.

He co-wrote, Musical Instruments of Africa: Their Nature, Use and Place in the Life of a Deeply Musical People with Betty Warner-Dietz (John Day Company, 1965). He taught a summer drumming and African dance course with his wife, at the Omega institute in Rhinebeck, NY (Omega Institute) for many summers during Family week. He also taught at the Esalen Institute in California from 1985 until shortly before his death from diabetes in 2003, on the day before his 76th birthday.