Ocote Soul Media / Revolution is Love / Disco Es Cultura

ANTIBALAS

In 1998, I put together the first incarnation of the Brooklyn-based afrobeat collective known as Antibalas. We live in and perform regularly in New York City, and have performed in 15 countries. Our music is based heavily on the afrobeat style created in the early 1970s in Lagos, Nigeria by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, who in his own words described the music as a "fusion of jazz and Yoruba traditional music."

Antibalas has shared the stage with James Brown, Femi Kuti, Tony Allen, the Roots, Wyclef Jean, Lagbaja, and have performed at festivals such as the DuMaurier Vancouver Jazz Festival (2002, 2003), Montreux Jazz Festival (2002), Newport Jazz Festival (2002), Montreal Jazz Fest (2001), Istanbul Jazz Festival (2002), and numerous others in North America and Europe.

We have been joined onstage by such Afrobeat elders as Tony Allen, Femi Kuti, Babatunde Williams, Udoh Essiet, Oghene Kologbo, Jojo Quo, Victor, Ola Jagun, and Nicholas Addey of Fela's Afrika 70 and Egypt 80 band.

Discography:

Uprising 7" (1999) Afrosound

N.E.S.T.A, Dirt and Blood, Sí Se Puede, Battle of the Species 12" (2000) Afrosound

Liberation Afrobeat (2000) Afrosound / Ninja Tune

Tour EP (2001) Afrosound

Talkatif (2002) Ninja Tune

Che Che Cole (12") 2003 Afrosound / Daptone

Who Is This America (2004) Ropeadope

Government Magic EP (2005) Afrosound

Discography does not include compilations.

more info: www.antibalas.com or www.ropeadope.com

OCOTE SOUL SOUNDS

Ocote Soul Sounds is a group that is sometimes a solo project and sometimes a full-on group. Lately, I've been working alone on two records, "Electric Tides" (June 2005) and "June Tunes (forthcoming Sept. 2005).

Together with Adrian Quesada of Grupo Fantasma and Nick Movshon and El Michels of Soul Fire, I made a record called "El Niño y El Sol", which is more of a psychedelic and eclectic latin funk sound with mostly live instrumentation. Adrian and I have another one in the works, hopefully to be done by the end of 2005.

Some of my solo solo stuff like on the "Electric Tides" and forthcoming "June Tunes" records is very folky, stripped down as far as the number of instruments, but very heavy on effects and processing to shape the sounds. The music of Victor Jara, Jorge Ben, Baaba Maal, Baden Powell and Alice Coltrane has been very influential to me in my solo compositions.

Thanks to Mark Hines of the Marksmen, I have been able to set up a portable studio which helps me get all of my ideas down, whenever, and has also greatly changed how I compose and record music for myself and for other people.

You can hear Ocote Soul Sounds on the soundtrack to "Night Magic" a film by Bernardo Ruiz, and on "Basics to Boogie," Bobbito Garcia's instructional basketball video.

Tunde, Dave and I have been friends and housemates for years, and it has been a lot of fun recording with them and making music and watching them grow as a band. They called me in to do flutes on "Satellite," then flutes and saxophones for few songs on "Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes," and for the new records they are making.

Carlos Mena and Lázaro Galarraga (Flute and saxophones over batá drums and traditional Afrocuban/Yoruba religious music)

Kori Girard and Isaiah Seret: Music video collaboration with my audio and their video to the Ocote Soul Sounds "Electric Tides" EP.