#244 Sikiru Adepoju- Percussionist, Grammy Winner, Bandleader and More!
This episode is sponsored by Eucatape. Use the code EUCATAPE15 for 15% off at checkout.
A master of the talking drum, today’s guest, Sikiru Adepoju, comes from a musical family from Eruwa in western Nigeria. He and his brothers Saminu and Lasisi were taught drumming very early by their father, Chief Ayanleke Adepoju, whose very name, Ayan, means "descended from drummers." While still in his teens, Sikiru toured with and recorded several albums with the Inter-Reformers Band, the band of one of the pioneers of Afro-beat, Nigerian Juju artist Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey.
Adepoju's current project is entitled "Riddim Doctors". It features Sikiru Adepoju, Giovanni Hidalgo, Zakir Hussain, Ian "Inx" Herman, Femi Ojetunde, Peter Fujii, Sola Babatola. and Douglas "Val" Serrant.
R.I.P.
Rest in peace to the great Charlie Watts.
Singer-Songwriter, David Ryan Harris sums up how and why Charlie was so great with his INSTAGRAM POST.
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday to (friend of the show) Ryan Vaughn. Over the past twenty years, drummer/percussionist Ryan has become a fixture in the independent music scene. Ryan has performed with some of the best independent singer/songwriters; including Caleb Hawley, Chrissi Poland, Zach Hurd (Bay Ledges), Sonya Kitchell, Elizabeth & the Catapult, Wakey! Wakey!, Ian Axel (A Great Big World), Rachel Platten, Lucius, Emily Kinney, Charlotte Sometimes, etc.
Ryan has also performed with numerous well-known recording artists such as John Forté, Anna Nalick, Aloe Blacc, Dave Monks (Tokyo Police Club), Joshua Radin, Ryan Cabrera, Tony Lucca, Jeffrey Gaines, Teddy Geiger, Tyler Hilton, Natasha Bedingfield, Rita Wilson, Hugh Jackman, Bebe Rexha, Lizzy Grant (Lana Del Rey), Ben Taylor, and Carly Simon. Ryan has performed on television for Late Night with Conan O’Brien with Joshua Radin, Comcast’s Backstage with Nick Howard (2012 winner of The Voice in Germany), and he is featured in John Forté’s groundbreaking documentary entitled The Russian Winter, which premiered at the TriBeCa Film Festival in the Spring of 2012.
In 2013, Ryan was the bandleader of the house band for Katie Couric’s daytime talk show, Katie. In 2016, Ryan worked on the development for Fox 20th Century’s hit movie, The Greatest Showman, for which he received a credit on the multi-award-winning original motion picture soundtrack. Vaughn has also worked on numerous other shows, including The Masked Singer, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, and The Bachelor Presents: Listen To Your Heart.
In addition to performing and recording, Ryan has always had a knack for the business of music. In 2014, Ryan took a position as head of A&R for the new music company, Fieldhouse Music (BMG). In 2016, Vaughn was hired as the Business Development Manager at Marshall Arts U.S. (AEG). In 2017, Ryan founded his own artist management company called Backline Creative. Simultaneously to launching Backline Creative, Ryan helped his wife launch her custom music company, Head Bitch Music.
While Ryan was born in Upland, CA, he grew up in Prescott, AZ. Vaughn went on to earn two Associate degrees – one in Jazz Performance and the other in General Business – from Mesa Community College in Mesa, AZ and later his Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance from the prestigious William Paterson University of New Jersey in Wayne, NJ.
Happy Birthday to friend of the show Charles Ruggiero. Charles was born to be a drummer. The son of world renowned jazz musician Vinnie Ruggiero, Charles spent his early years surrounded by the "who's who" of jazz. There was always music around, and with musicians like Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Freddie Hubbard, and Jon Hendricks coming to spend time and play, it was only a matter of time before he caught the bug and asked his father to play the "bang-bangs."
As a teenager, Charles got serious about drumming, playing anywhere he could. Soon, local high schools and colleges, as well as professional theatre groups, and popular local bands throughout western N.Y. started to hire him. After winning a seat in the New York State All State Jazz Ensemble, music colleges came calling. Manhattan School of Music offered a full scholarship and a chance to study with famed jazz educator Justin DiCioccio, so he jumped at the chance. The jazz scene in New York City in the early 90's was vibrant and he was plying regularly with his own "who's who" of jazz, including Joshua Redman, Peter Bernstein, Jane Monheit, Ryan Kisor, Joel Frahm, Sam Yahel, Brad Mehldau, Myron Walden, Chris Potter, and Dwayne Burno, to name a few.
Happy Birthday to host, Damon Grant. Damon is a professional percussionist that can be described as “Rockstar Adjacent”. He is someone who continuously works with musicians who are world renowned in all styles and genres. He recently recorded and released an album called ‘Prevailing Melodies’ produced by David Ryan Harris. The album features Harris, along with other artists like: Morgan James, Marc Broussard, Zane Carney, Stephen Kellogg and many more. He recorded on the Grammy-Nominated album by Blues artist, Joe Louis Walker. Previous to that he also worked with Madonna on her 2012 Super Bowl halftime show, her MDNA tour, and DVD premiere in NYC. As a professional sideman, Damon has performed around the world and worked with world-class musicians in all genes including: Charlie Hunter, Morgan James, David Ryan Harris, Eric Hutchinson, Javier Colon, Erich Bergen, Norbert Leo Butz, Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, Stefon Harris and countless others. He as well as his group, The Damon Grant Project, have been featured in Modern Drummer and Latin Beat magazines and performed in London at the gala event for the 2012 U.S. Olympic team. He was a member of the 10 time DCI World Champion, Cadets drum corps and performed at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. Damon was also a member of the group The Bomb Squad which was featured in People magazine and won an American Music Award. He was an original cast member of the show Blast! which won both an Emmy and a Tony award. Damon was fortunate enough to have studied with musical legend Yusef Lateef and master percussionist Giovanni Hidalgo.
Gig Alert
You can volunteer to help with Logistics at PASIC. You will:
Receive a free four-day pass to participate in the convention
(up to a $295 value)
Complimentary Logistics Team T-shirt
Be a part of the PASIC experience
Meet your favorite artists
Be entered into a drawing for free gear, donated by our exhibitors
Please email volunteer@pas.org if you have any questions.
The Yamaha School Service Sales team is looking for a District Manager who will act as a brand ambassador and business partner; and will be responsible for the achievement of company sales goals within a specified territory covering ME, NH, VT, CT, MA, RI, Upstate NY and Eastern PA. This person will be the primary contact for all matters of business pertaining to the sales, marketing and distribution of School Service products. This is a remote role with the flexibility to travel 75% of the time for sales calls, trade shows, dealer events and regular visits to our US Headquarters in Buena Park, CA. This important role requires a high level of strategic/action planning and the ability to react quickly and effectively to business environments/changes in order to successfully meet our short-term and long-term sales goals and increase revenue. Friend of the show, Jeff Queen, holds this position on the west coast.
Damon will be playing percussion at the Greenwich Town Party with Charlie King on Sunday September 5th.
Social Soundbyte
Friend of the show Weedie Braimah has a new album coming out Sept 24th. He announced some of the guests that would be on the album in an Instagram Post.
Educational Spotlight
Friends of the show, Paulo Stagnaro and Marcos Lopez have released new TImbale courses on Conga Chops (dot com).
Iconic Recording
This week’s iconic recording is “Island Groove” from Mickey Hart’s Grammy - Winning album, ‘Planet Drum’.
This particular track features:
Caxixi, Rattle, Cymbal [Chinese Cymbal-Throwing], Voice [Yelling] – Airto Moreira
Djembe, Congas, Shekere, Vocals – Babatunde Olatunji
Drums, Percussion [Bombo Indio With Split Bamboo] – Mickey Hart
Talking Drum [Dundun], Percussion [Duggi Tarang] – Sikiru Adepoju
Talking Drum [Madal], Dholak – Zakir Hussain
Music News
On the first Friday of every month since March of 2020, Bandcamp waived their revenue share to help support the many artists who have seen their livelihoods disrupted by the pandemic. Over the course of these 14 days, fans paid artists and labels $59 million dollars, helping cover rents, mortgages, groceries, medications, and much more. If you’re among the nearly 800,000 fans who participated, thank you.
The next Bandcamp Friday will be on September 3rd, and we’ll continue to hold those on the first Friday of every month thereafter for the rest of 2021.
You can find Damon’s album on Bandcamp (this would be a great birthday present if you grabbed a copy -hint hint, wink wink).
Earlier this week, Harry Styles announced that the North American leg of his Love on Tour would take place as scheduled – albeit with stringent mask and vaccination requirements in place. Now, Jay-Z’s Made in America Festival has partnered with biometrics identification company Clear to verify attendees’ vaccination status and “expedite entry on to festival grounds.”
In terms of the initially noted Clear partnership, Health Pass, “a free, mobile experience” on the entity’s app, “securely connects a person’s verified identity to multiple layers of COVID-19 related insights, including proof of vaccination and test results, to reduce public health risk and get people back to what they love,” according to the release announcing the partnership. -Article
The music industry is increasingly global, though Afghanistan is suddenly crossed off of the ’emerging markets’ list. Just last week, Digital Music News first reported that the Taliban was quickly moving to ban music in public places across Afghanistan. That now appears to be part of a broader crackdown on music in the country.
Initially, the Taliban’s music ban only impacted public spaces, and musicians themselves seemed safe from persecution. However, just days later, that assumption is no longer safe following the unexpected killing of Afghan folk singer Fawad Andarabi. According to the singer’s family, Andarabi was initially assured of his safety by members of the Taliban. Days later, he was dragged from his home and shot by members of the same party. -Article
The Rolling Stones just recently announced their intention to proceed with the tour’s 13 upcoming stops, beginning with a show at The Dome in St. Louis on Sunday, September 26th. “The Rolling Stones’ tour dates are moving ahead as planned,” the nearly six-decade-old group specified in an official, widely circulated statement.
Veteran drummer Steve Jordan had been enlisted to fill in for Watts prior to the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s passing, and the 64-year-old is still expected to perform with the Stones during the upcoming tour leg. The loss of Charlie Watts – who is the only individual besides Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to have played on each of the Stones’ 25 studio albums – will undoubtedly factor prominently into these quick-approaching shows, the last of which is slated for Saturday, November 20th. -Article
Sikiru Adepoju Interview
The song leading into the interview is called “Lana Dewa” from Sikiru’s album ‘OPE’ by the Riddim Doctors.
The first thing that is talked about is the various drums of the Yoruba people. Damon brings up the Sakara drum. Sikiru talks about the many uses of the Talking Drum and its differences from the Tama in Senegal.
Sikiru started playing in his neighborhood on the weekend, but making shoes during the week. He also started hanging out and pulling all-nighters with his fellow musicians and instrumentalists at Mayflower, Mushin. There, he met Yomi Israel and Ade Olusayo.
After the shoe factory, In 1982, he became a tout as an independent contractor with the body that is now known as the National Union of Road Transport Workers. He was in charge of ticketing, identity and other permits.
The last musical artist that Sikiru worked with before coming to the USA was with Commander Ebenezer Obey. After he left that band he joined Orlando Julius EKEMODE.
He arrived in the USA in 1985. Orlando Julius wanted to help Lijadu Sisters at the time in America, but Legion De Sisters had never traveled. Julius knew that Lijadu Sisters were gaining some fame in the states and he wanted to help them capitalize on it.
He also planned to use them as opening acts on his tour dates while they gain notoriety on their own. But then, Lijadu Sisters thought Julius was going to use them and they asked for down payment before they leave Nigeria. Julius, who couldn't pay them was left frustrated and Lijadu Sisters was already on show promotion materials. Somehow, they fought and cursed each other.
Sikiru talks about the time they were stranded. They were billed to take a road trip to Toronto, Canada, for their first show on the tour. However, show promoters were not picking calls and the bus driver had to be paid. Things went sour till someone rescued and borrowed money for us to perform two other shows in California.
Sikiru talks about being in San Fransisco and meeting Mickey Hart and Babatunde Olatunji. Then opening for the Grateful Dead with the Global Drum Project.
The “intermission” in the Grateful Dead shows with Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann is called the Rhythm Devils. Sikiru talks about playing with them.
Damon brings up the Planet Drum album that won a Grammy that Sikiru was on.
Sikiru talks about the couple of times he worked with Stevie Wonder.
Sikiru has a new album out that was released during the pandemic. It is called “OPE” by the Riddim Doctors. Sikiru talks about who is playing on this album.
Some of the musicians to check out include Fela Kuti, as well as the aforementioned Babatunde Olatunji and Orlando Julius.
Sikiru talks about the additional three bata drums used in Nigeria compared to the traditional three drums used in Cuba. The names of those drums are: Iyáàlù, Omele Abo, Omele Ako, Okonkolo, Itotele and Iya.
Some of the music Sikiru sent over was THIS ARTIST, and also THIS ONE.
This is the song Sikiru talks about with Orlando Julius and Ashiko.
Sikiru explains what a Bembe is. He also talks about Sakara music.
Sikiru talks about the different materials on his talking drum.
You can follow Sikiru on Facebook.
The song leading out of the interview is called “Idaji” from Sikiru’s album ‘OPE’ by the Riddim Doctors.
