Heads High

You generally know when you’re in the presence of greatness. When I stepped into Adesose Wallace’s NW London abode to find him casually playing a Goje at his kitchen table, I had that familiar feeling of humility that only a learned elder can provoke. For those of you who don’t know who Adesose is, prepare to be amazed. Having roots in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Mr Wallace is a West African in the expanded sense of the term. An accomplished artist, singer, percussionist and many other things besides, Ade’s existence has been rich to say the least. I was sent by East London venue Passing Clouds (an organization with whom Adesose shares a close artistic relationship) to interview him and create a biography for their artist roster. When we began to break bread, I realized that I could easily write a series of books charting Ade’s experiences. I’m not a biographer per se, but I do feel its important to record the achievements of our great cultural ambassadors – besides stories about the arts/music scene in 70s Lagos, Covent Garden’s Africa Centre before the Soul II Soul Soundsystem and first hand accounts of the showmanship of Sierra Leone’s Geraldo Pino (African Funk legend and one of Fela’s inspirations) are like drugs to me, I can’t help but listen.

So I thought it’d be nice to drop a post every once in a while and relate a little of our conversation to you. Rather than an overview of Ade’s achievements (which i’ll save for Passing Clouds), think of each post as a snapshot of a time gone by. A window into the sights, sounds and smells which still have relevance today and are ingrained in the very fabric of our artistic culture.

Geraldo Pino was a huge star in the West Africa of the late 60s/early 70s. Hailing from Sierra Leone Pino turned the African popular music scene upside down with his heavy brand of Funk. Here’s what Adesose had to say about Geraldo, his band, his influence on Fela and the club scene in 70s Lagos:

‘I’ve always been a musician but for a long time I didn’t play an instrument, my instrument was my mouth. In school I studied music theory, Brahms, Mozart, Schubert, Handel. I sang in the church choir and travelled from country to country singing gospel. In Sierra Leone [Adesose's place of birth] I wasn’t playing anything professionally, I used to go to gigs and fetes and just hang out. Around that time there was this band called the Heartbeats, Geraldo Pino & The Heartbeats. Geraldo Pino was the biggest musician ever to come out of Sierra Leone. You could call him a megastar. He was known all across Africa as early as 1964. His music was a combination of James Brown and Elvis Presley, and he even dressed like Elvis, with the big collars and the suits. He was a huge guy, a big womaniser and a good singer, he had all the star qualities. It’s only now he’s dead that people are starting to know about him. In Nigeria he is very famous. He’s the man who influenced Fela to make Afrobeat. There would be no Afrobeat music if Pino hadn’t toured there with his band.

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He arrived in Nigeria like a true superstar. He drove a Pontiac convertible and he had a big bus that carried his musicians and his instruments. He travelled from country to country by road, so when he got to Nigeria, he arrived with all of that. Nigerian bands did not have anything close to the quality of equipment he had. Strobe lights, PA system. This guy had all these things in the early 60s. He had things that most Nigerian musicians had never even seen before. He was way ahead of time! Fela came on the scene in 1970. When Pino played in Lagos, that was where it was happening. People flocked to see him – wherever he is, its sold out. He was the godfather of soul in Africa.

So Fela is doing his Jazz thing with Koola Lobitos. He’d come back from England and was doing a mix of Highlife and Jazz. Something made him stop playing that, and that something was Geraldo Pino. Since Pino arrives, he’s the biggest star in the country. He’s playing for the President and the state house, right down to the grass-roots level. He was cleaning-up. That’s what led Fela to change. Fela had just begun to sing about cultural awareness, ‘Black Man’s Cry’ and those kind of songs. Pino arrived in town, confused the whole thing with his James Brown style and Fela got mad. He was like ‘no way is that going to happen in my home country when this guy comes from Sierra Leone – coming to disrupt what i’m just beginning to set up’. So Fela decided to disband his own group. That’s how Fela, Tony Allen, Tunde Williams (he and Fela used to play trumpet. I was there when he learned to play saxophone) and the others moved to Afrobeat. The sound that mixed the African drum rhythms, Jazz and Funk to create a new style. That first band was the Nigeria 70.

Back in Sierra Leone, Geraldo Pino’s house was just up the road from mine so I knew him and the band personally. We grew up together. I used to check out their gigs back home and they knew me as a singer from the choral stuff I was doing.When I came to Lagos in the 60s, my mother had a hotel which had a night-club called the Q Club. I moved in there, and Pino’s group used to come and check me. The Q Club name is originally from London. Africans have been coming to London for a long long time man – my mother is 85 and since she was a little girl she’s been coming to England. Africans know London & England inside out, it’s no mystery to us! Everybody came to the Q Club. It was in the centre of Lagos so a lot of artists used to pass through.

Because I knew Geraldo and his band from Sierra Leone, I went to every gig they played in Lagos. They knew I was a singer and because I’d heard them play so much, I became familiar with a lot of their music. I used to occasionally help out with backing vocals but that was about it. One day, one of their singers walked out. In 70s Lagos, musicians would play on a contract basis. you’d be booked to play a certain venue for like 3 months, and when that 3 months finish, you move to the next place. That means every night, 6 days a week you’re obliged to play. You pick your night-off and the rest of the time you’re working – from 9pm to 6am in the morning! There was also a thing called ’showtime’ which was when the featured artists for the night performed. From 12 midnight to 3am it’s showtime. After that, its over to the band and dance till daybreak. So Francis Fouster [asks me if I know who he is, to which I reply no]. People need to know about Francis Fouster. People need to know about the real people. Right now he plays congas and percussion for Hugh Masekela. He’s been playing with Masekela since 1974. Fouster was the band-leader of the Heartbeats. Pino was the owner of the band, the showman. he could sing and play a bit of guitar. Pino would come for showtime, sing, play guitar and his band would back him. He’d do his show, and then get in his Pontiac and leave! The rest of the night, the Heartbeats would play, and the leader of the Heartbeats was Francis Fouster. He’d play kit drum and sing lead at the same time. When the singer walked out that night, I stepped in and helped Francis because he was struggling man. He was on the kit, singing, and at the same time he had to organise all these other artists – it was a hectic night. From then on I became part of the band.

Eventually, the Heartbeats split from Geraldo Pino. They were touring between Ghana, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast. They got to Accra in Ghana and next thing the band was split. It was kind of Pino’s fault I think. There were times when the band were waiting to get their money, and Pino had just got into his car and drove out of town. Not necessarily that he didn’t want to pay them, he was just doing other things and wasn’t there to authorise the release of funds. Remember, he’s a superstar, a womaniser, after a show he’s leaving with his women and not thinking about his band. When the Heartbeats came back to Lagos, of course they checked me because I’m at the hotel, I could give them rooms, and my mother has a club so they’re thinking maybe something could work.

There was this half Lebanese guy who was very popular in 70s Lagos called Nabir. He was a club DJ. he used to play in a club which is actually still there today called the Phoenicia NIghtclub. It was owned by another Lebanese guy called Mahmoud. It was originally a nightclub but he converted it into a club with a restaurant. We went to Nabir and explained the situation to him. We had a band with all their instruments but no amps bacause they were owned by Pino. We wanted Mahmoud to let us play there and provide the missing amplifiers, supported by Nabir on the turntables. Mahmoud provided the equipment and we started playing.

Of course, we needed a new name. We came up with two. Barof and Baranta. They were both creole or patois if you like for rebel. Baranta sounded nice. Francis liked it so we went with that.  So a new band was born from what used to be Geraldo Pino & The Heartbeats. But Geraldo Pino, he never, ever faded…..(to be continued)