Other tracks include ‘Buje Buje’ and ‘Aseni’, both re-worked arrangements from his rare ‘Orlando Julius and The Afro Sounders’ album from 1973. I did start recording it for the ‘Sisi Sade’ album around 1985 but it was never ﬁnished. The epic Afrobeat jam ‘Be Counted’ stems from his years in the USA: This was written around 1976 while I was living on the Westcoast. Infectious chant ‘Omo Oba Blues’ is a traditional song sung at Julius’ school which he re-arranged in 1965 for his Modern Aces band.

They would sing together and play drums, I would play along with them and we would sing this song together.” The title track recalls his experiences as a boy: “My mother would go to group meetings with other women. His ‘Super Afro Soul’ album from ’66 set the blueprint for a whole generation of Afrobeat and Afro funk stars and, in an illustrious career, Julius met and played with Louis Armstrong, The Crusaders, Hugh Masekela and Lamont Dozier among others, famously co-composing the classic ‘Going Back To My Roots’ in 1979 whilst based in the USA.įor ‘Jaiyede Afro’, Julius takes us back to his own roots, revisiting several compositions from his early years which have never previously been recorded. Strut are proud to announce the ﬁrst ever internationally released new studio album by one of the all-time legends of Nigerian music, Orlando Julius, in a mouth-watering new collaboration with London super-group The Heliocentrics.Īt his club residency in Ibadan, Orlando Julius was one of the very ﬁrst to begin fusing US R&B with traditional highlife during the mid-‘60s with his Modern Aces band.

Hugh masekela flac