Lekan Babalola features Olu Taiwo on Yoruba sonnets UK cities tours

Acclaimed Grammy Awards-winning percussionist, Lekan Babalola is bringing his music to a wider
audience alongside his co-travelling Sacred Funk Sextet in a new concert series tagged Yoruba Sonnets.

The multi-city gig will take place across major United Kingdom cities featuring Babalola’s kindred spirit,
the accomplished spoken word poet and scholar, Dr Olu.Taiwo. Their artistic chemistry on stage will pick up from the successful Ebo Tour which held last year.

Together, Lekan who is releasing a new album soon and Olu will bring to the stage the Yoruba Sonnets –
a unique experience, presented by two very talented, very different individuals. The Yoruba Sonnets pair
spoken word poetry and mime from Dr Olu Taiwo with live music from Lekan Babalola’s Sacred Funk Sextet.

The result is a unique performance of ancient Nigerian verse incorporating Afro-beat music and
the contemporary sound of Western Funk.
Yoruba Sonnets will serve its first instalment in full doze on Saturday, July 28 at the Birchfield Jazz
Festival, St Mary’s Church Hamstead and continues on Saturday, October 13 at The Performance Gym, University of Winchester, Hampshire. The music train continues at Cheese and Grain, Frome on Sunday, October 21 while curtains fall at Charney Manor, Wantage.

Twice Grammy award winning Nigerian percussionist, Lekan Babalola, is well known for his innovative
musical style, using his native Yoruba tongue infused with traditional music, Afrobeat and funky dance
overtones.

In addition to being a talented musician, Lekan has also undertaken education work as part of his artistic
programme and has on-going relationships both in the UK, USA, Europe, Caribbean and Africa as a percussionist, art curator tutor, band leader / composer and producer.
Dr Olu Taiwo is Senior Lecturer in Performing Arts at the University of Winchester. He has worked on
identity and performance and is a well-established performer using digital technologies. He is engaged
with critical debates around the interaction of body, technology and the environment.