25 Songs: I.K. Dairo

With less than a week left in our accordion advent calendar, we turn to a country not typically known for its accordion players: Nigeria. I.K. Dairo was a pioneer of juju, a popular Nigerian music that evolved from Yoruba percussion. Dairo introduced new sounds to juju, adding Latin rhythms, electric guitar, and his ten-button accordion to the mix. He toured the world, was awarded an MBE by Queen Elizabeth in 1963, and extended juju’s appeal while deepening its connections to its Yoruba roots.

2 Comments:

  1. His Wikipedia entry is very interesting. I’d like to get more of his stuff. And he taught near us in Seattle! We’re doing our show too late. Sad.

    When first I saw this I thought he was a Deiro, from the US/Italian vaudeville family. Ha! The world is very big.

  2. “Dairos and Deiros of the World” sounds like a great subject for one of your shows, Bruce. :-)