Olu Dara

Subject: Olu Dara
From: Bennet Zurofsky
Date: 19 Oct 01 - 05:00 PM

I was surprised that my search of this site turned up no reference of any sort to this remarkable musician. Mudcatters should check him out. He first became known as an avant garde jazz trumpet player with the likes of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Lester Bowie. More recently, however, he has turned to recording songs of his own composition.

His songs are remarkable. I think of them as being in a category of their own which I have labeled "African Diaspora." Dara's songs seem to combine all of the many musics of the African Diaspora: blues, calypso, highlife, reggae, plena, jazz, etc. into a new and enjoyable sound. His lyrics appropriately address the varieties of Black experience.

Has anyone else out there listened to Dara? What do you think?

Subject: RE: Olu Dara
From: 53
Date: 19 Oct 01 - 09:57 PM

don't care to much for jazz.

Subject: RE: Olu Dara and the African Diaspora
From: Bennet Zurofsky
Date: 23 Oct 01 - 04:12 PM

One need not be a jazz fan to appreciate the music I am referring to. In fact, most jazz fans probably would not consider Olu Dara's recent recordings to be jazz. If they fall into any general category it would be the singer-songwriter category. Olu Dara's songs, however, reflect a much broader range of musical influence, particularly from the many varieties of music generated by the African Diaspora. I would expect many of those who enjoy blues and other popular musics to enjoy his work.

Subject: RE: Olu Dara
From: MMario
Date: 23 Oct 01 - 04:39 PM

Bennet many of us were away at one place or another over the weekend - in still in the terminal stages of exhaustion. It's quite possible that when some of the "returnees" see this it simply isn't registering at this point.

Subject: RE: Olu Dara
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Oct 01 - 05:05 PM

Hi, Bennet, thanks for the information. I will definitely check out some of his music and I really appreciate your telling about it.

You might enjoy reading this thread, African Mudcatters, Am I the only one?. When she gets a chance, I am sure the orginator of that thread will be interested in yours, too.

Thanks, again and welcome to the Mudcat!

If you have Real Player and want to see and hear a bunch of Mudcatters who've just got done with the Folklore Society of Greater Washington Getaway, tune into Mudcat Radio at about 9pm Eastern US time, tonight. They will be broadcasting live. The radio link will be on the main forum page when they are ready to go on. It's a lot of fun!

katlaughing aka kat