Bio

The ten-member orchestra SALVADOR SANGÓ is the brainchild of Sotiris Papadopoulos, a Greek who has been living and working outside Greece for the most part of his life. The band’s name which, as it happens, is also Sotiris’s artistic pseudonym, is not accidental: Salvador is the translation of “Sotiris” –saviour- in Spanish, whereas Sango (pronounced Shongó) is the god of lightning, the protector of justice and the weak in the Yoruba pantheon, one of the most populous tribes in West Africa with a particular presence in music, dance and the arts in general. Circumstances brought the Greek to the land of the Yoruba when he came to Nigeria for the first time in 1980 to play with Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the indisputable Afrobeat king. Thesame destiny brought him back -through UNESCO- eight years later as a senior lecturer in (Atomic) Physics, since this is what he has studied, at some Nigerian university having come from the research elite of Oxford. This position, however, could not keep Sotiris for a long time and after a series of personal and professional pursuits he returned to what he really loves, in spite of the fact that this could barely cover him existentially: the music. During this phase Sotiris formed his well known jazz quartet, SPICE, and has performed with numerous Nigerian artists including Femi Kuti, Orlando Julius, Victor Waifo, Batik etc. While in the US (for his doctoral studies in Physics) he participated both as a student and as a teacher for nearly three years in one of New York’s most renowned jazz seminars, Jazzmobile in Harlem. Yet, Sotiris is essentially self-taught. That’s the case both for his instrument, the guitar, and for music as an academic subject (harmony, composition, arrangement). For the sake of acquiring this knowledge he has spent countless nights with the sole company of his guitar, his records and his books. In New York he got the foundations of jazz as he was opportuned to play with various groups and with stars of this genre like Billy Taylor, Frank Foster (Duke Ellington Orchestra), Ira Coleman (Tony Williams, Herbie Hancock), The Jazzmobile Ensemble and Tito Puente. In 1989, while still being an academician, he performed with Dizzy Gillespie during the latter’s Nigeria tour. The musical result of these and other experiences not mentioned here is the SALVADOR SANGÓ orchestra which was created in 2004 with the broader aim of presenting to the international audience a bridging through music of the cultural and racial gap which still reigns supreme in the world of “globalization” of today. This is done, however, without sacrificing the individuality and particularities as much of the orchestra members as of the musical style itself. The result is world music par excellence. To a large extent their music employs West African polyrhythms and folklore as its foundation but the final result surpasses by far the West African borders: it passes through Latin America for its salsa/afrocuban ingredients, North America for its jazz/blues influences, West Europe for classical/rock and the Mediterranean for flamenco/arabesque, finally returning to the founder’s Ithaca: Greece. The orchestra’s works comprise vocal tunes sung in Spanish, Yoruba, English, Greek, Fon, as well as instrumentals. One could say without reservation that SALVADOR SANGÓ are hierophants of world music for, along with the musical message passed to their audiences, another one, more ethereal and spiritual is being passed which cannot be described by words but is felt through the wide spectrum of emotions and sentiments their music causes: joy and sadness, nostalgia, exaltation, tranquility and introspection…Yet, two of these are always absent: fear and anger. The other, particularly African, element in their music is the constant provocation to dance. In SALVADOR SANGÓ there are no stars and starlets. All members are stars, each endowed with their own colour and their own light. And these are: SONNY SOLOMON drums, vocals, percussion YEMI AKINBODE congas, bongos, percussion SEGUN ADESOLA timbales, percussion DAMILOLA OLUBUNMI bass, vocals, percussion TAYO MOMMOH vocals, percussion FEMI OLAYEMI piano, keyboards VICTOR ADEMOFE trumpet, vocals, percussion BANKOLE JOSHUA alto sax, vocals, percussion SEGUN ADENIRAN tenor sax, vocals, percussion SOTIRIS PAPADOPOULOS composition, arrangement, guitar, vocals, percussion With the exception of their band leader, all other members have had the church as their training/performance ground. Yet, they all share two things: their unending love for MUSIC and the grand dream of propagating their spiritual and musical message all over the world. Further biographical and other details can be found at our website: www.salvadorsango.com Contact info: Sotiris Papadopoulos +234-1-7741544, +234-803-2397428 e-mail:[email protected] All rights reserved. © 2006 SOTIRIS PAPADOPOULOS