Femo!!!
I was shambolicking around the University of Lagos in the early 80's (as students do, even though it wasn't my school), when a came across a strange sight- a Volkswagen Beetle, driven by a skinny, dark-complexioned, bespectacled fellow. Not ordinarily a strange sight, since skinny bespectacled persons of dark hue are not forbidden by law from driving Beetles, no matter how old. The issue for me was that the said Beetle had a strange passenger- A Double Bass tied to its roof! Presumably because it couldn't fit into the Beetle. Come on admit it, that is strange for anywhere much less Lagos in the early 80's. This ladies and gentlemen was my Introduction to the dude- Femi"Digger"Elias.
Now I can imagine some wise-ass asking whats a Double Bass? Well thats one up there, happy now? I've thrown in a photo of a Beetle for good measure, now can I carry on? Thanks very much.
I never saw the geezer again but heard about a year later, this "bad" Bassist, who played like Jaco Pastorius and could rip up Bebop lines like a shredder and who occasionally played at Nigeria's most popular Jazz venue at the time, Jazz 38, run by the eclectic couple- Tunde and Fran Kuboye.
I never did hear this guy until sometime in the summer of 1994 or 1995 at a Jazz Club run by my very close mate Majek- the legendary Jazzville. I saw the same skinny dark fella mount the stage with the trio of the brilliant Greek Guitarist/Physicist- Sotiris Papadopoulos (who was the bestman at my wedding), Dele Sosimi on Piano and the talented but heady Wille Bestman on drums. No need for superlatives, I was simply blown away nuff said. That brother was awesome.
What amazed me more was his easy, unaffected manner, he simply played the damn thing, no posturing or faffing around, he absolutely murdered the Bass Guitar, which I noted to be a fretless number ( a la Pastorius).
I got a bit of background info on the fella subsequently and found out the following:
a. That he was (or is) rated as one of the world's top 12 Bassists;
b. That he had a Ph.d in Law and also happened to be a Lecturer in International Comparative Law at Kings College London.
Now I can imagine some wise-ass asking whats a Double Bass? Well thats one up there, happy now? I've thrown in a photo of a Beetle for good measure, now can I carry on? Thanks very much.
I never saw the geezer again but heard about a year later, this "bad" Bassist, who played like Jaco Pastorius and could rip up Bebop lines like a shredder and who occasionally played at Nigeria's most popular Jazz venue at the time, Jazz 38, run by the eclectic couple- Tunde and Fran Kuboye.
I never did hear this guy until sometime in the summer of 1994 or 1995 at a Jazz Club run by my very close mate Majek- the legendary Jazzville. I saw the same skinny dark fella mount the stage with the trio of the brilliant Greek Guitarist/Physicist- Sotiris Papadopoulos (who was the bestman at my wedding), Dele Sosimi on Piano and the talented but heady Wille Bestman on drums. No need for superlatives, I was simply blown away nuff said. That brother was awesome.
What amazed me more was his easy, unaffected manner, he simply played the damn thing, no posturing or faffing around, he absolutely murdered the Bass Guitar, which I noted to be a fretless number ( a la Pastorius).
I got a bit of background info on the fella subsequently and found out the following:
a. That he was (or is) rated as one of the world's top 12 Bassists;
b. That he had a Ph.d in Law and also happened to be a Lecturer in International Comparative Law at Kings College London.
We later met in London in 2002 and had a chat about working together in studio on a track and once again this guy amazed me with his modesty and willingness to "give it a go". Three years later, I emailed him an mp3 of the track I wanted him to play and within a week Femi came to London, we went into the studio (The Premises in Hackney) and got to work on the track, there were a couple of rough takes. I excused myself to get a cup of tea for all from the canteen and guess what by the time I got back after 8 minutes, guess what? The dude had finished, the result?- faultless. Probably not the typical track to exercise his immense skills, but here's one example I can show you. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=49183&songID=2201875
Femi lived in Geneva for a fair while, working with the UN as one of the Programme Officers in the Commission set up to deal with compensation for affected entities in the 1st Gulf War. He currently works at the Hague- still with the UN, don't ask me I don't know what he does there, I was far more concerned with the fact that a superstar was playing Bass on my single absolutely free and even bought my kids a meal, I could hardly be seen to be Interrogating him on his 9-5 in the circumstances. I'm h0wever aware that he still teaches at Kings College as a Visiting Professor of International Law.
He has increasingly played less, as the pressure of work takes its toll, but faithfully gigs with his old school-mate- Dele Sosimi's band and featuring a talented array of some of the best instrumentalists in the UK (and indeed the first female Afrobeat percussionists- Angela Alhucema). Some might or should be aware that Dele was Fela Kuti's Keyboard player and an accomplished composer in his own right.
Otherwise there really is not much to say, he says so little about himself, hence whom am I to blow his trumpet. A real gentleman, a distinguished academic and a closet Hippy I say salut!Thanks for all dude.
I've attached a link to his myspace page, which characteristically Bros has forgotten to update for a while.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=94666742
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=52858369
Femi lived in Geneva for a fair while, working with the UN as one of the Programme Officers in the Commission set up to deal with compensation for affected entities in the 1st Gulf War. He currently works at the Hague- still with the UN, don't ask me I don't know what he does there, I was far more concerned with the fact that a superstar was playing Bass on my single absolutely free and even bought my kids a meal, I could hardly be seen to be Interrogating him on his 9-5 in the circumstances. I'm h0wever aware that he still teaches at Kings College as a Visiting Professor of International Law.
He has increasingly played less, as the pressure of work takes its toll, but faithfully gigs with his old school-mate- Dele Sosimi's band and featuring a talented array of some of the best instrumentalists in the UK (and indeed the first female Afrobeat percussionists- Angela Alhucema). Some might or should be aware that Dele was Fela Kuti's Keyboard player and an accomplished composer in his own right.
Otherwise there really is not much to say, he says so little about himself, hence whom am I to blow his trumpet. A real gentleman, a distinguished academic and a closet Hippy I say salut!Thanks for all dude.
I've attached a link to his myspace page, which characteristically Bros has forgotten to update for a while.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=94666742
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=52858369
posted by Seal67 at 5:47 am
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