AFROBEAT LEGEND FROM NIGERIA

Guitar legend Oghene Kologbo was born in Warri, Nigeria in 1957. His father was a well known highlife musician. When Kologbo was a teenager, he began performing with the revolutionary Afrobeat master Fela Kuti. Kologbo went on to record more than 50 sides with Africa 70. He played the hypnotic tenor guitar lines, but often recorded bass and rhythm guitar too. Kologbo was Fela’s personal assistant and ‘tape recorder’. That is, it was his job to remember the melodies Fela would sing to him late at night, then teach them to the band at rehearsal the next day. In 1978, after a show at the Berlin Jazz Festival, Kologbo left the band (along with Tony Allen and a few others) and stayed in Berlin.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Kologbo worked with the legendary but short-lived Roots Anabo. He also toured and recorded with King Sunny Ade, Tony Allen, and Brenda Fassie, among others. In 2005, Kologbo began working with the Afrobeat Academy, Berlin’s heaviest afrobeat ensemble. Their first single was released on Rabbi Records in 2006. Their full length cd “Remember Fela Anikulapo Kuti” was released on Lion’s Ark in September 2007. In 2008 he moved to france to join TONY ALLEN band as tenor guitar. In 2009 he start the recording in Paris of his new album: “Africa is the future”produced by Loik Dury which will be out in spring 2011. Sind 2011 he is on the way in south america involved in many afrobeat projects, workshops and films. 2013 Oghene Kologbo come to Berlin with his orchestra to one concert in the legendary YAAM Venue!

He lived in the Independent Republic of Kalakuta and joined Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 band at the age of 14. Together with the legendary Afrobeat master he played everywhere around the globe and recorded many milestone records , from ‘zombie’ to ‘mr. follow follow’, ‘expensive shit’… you name them. Kologbo has been living in Berlin since 1978, and to the luck of future Kolobitos Daniele Martini and Benoit Martiny in 2005 he started being a regular guest of the band where they were playing. After one year in which he brought great experience and passion, the collaboration ended… Daniele decided that despite all the signs of global warming around the world the weather in Holland was still too cold, so he decided to move south and dragged Benoit with him, they now moved to Brussels and formed the Kolobitos, a tribe of young musicians coming from all over the world and based in Belgium ready to play Kologbo’s music for anybody who wants to have some funky good time.

 Featuring Band WORLD SQUAD

Rapidly gaining a reputation as one of the grooviest bands there can be, World Squad is the protagonist of uncanny performances where it delivers an explosive mix of afrobeat, rock, funk and jazz. With musicians coming from as far as Togo, Italy, Greece and Belgium the group leaves up to its name and is often joined by a special guest from Nigeria: afrobeat legend Oghene Kologbo of Fela Kuti’s Africa 70. With him the band has already performed in various countries of Europe: Belgium, France, Italy, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Germany

WORLD SQUAD IS: DANIELE MARTINI (Italy) – tenor saxophone FRED BECKER (Belgium, Bruxelles) – baritone saxophone DANIEL DZIDZONU (Togo) – trumpet GIOTIS DAMIANIDIS (Greece) – electric guitar ANTHONY MARCON (Belgium, Wallonie) – bass guitar JAKOB WARMENBOL (Belgium, Flanders) – drums OGHENE KOLOGBO (Nigeria) – special guest, voice and electric guitar

 Featuring Band AFRO SOCIAL CLUB

Afro Social Club is a french collective of 9 musicians gathered around Fela Kuti’s legacy. We all share the same passion for afrobeat and its most recent declensions, building our own music, in the name of the groove and spirit of this powerful sound.