Lemi Ghariokwu | |
|---|---|
 Photo by Emmanuel Komolafe | |
| Born | Emmanuel Sunday December 26, 1955 |
| Nationality | Nigerian |
| Notable work | Designer of 26 album covers for Fela Kuti and covers for Polygram Records |
| Website | http://www.lemighariokwu.com |
Lemi Ghariokwu (born Emmanuel Sunday; [1] 26 December 1955), also known simply as Lemi, is a Nigerian painter, illustrator and designer who is most renowned for providing many of the original cover images for the recordings of Nigerian musician Fela Kuti. [2]
Lemi Abiodun Ghariokwu was born Emmanuel Sunday on 26 December 1955, in Agege, Lagos, Nigeria. He is from Agbor, Delta State but has spent all his life in Lagos. He grew up in Igbobi, Fadeyi in Lagos State with his parents and siblings. During his school days, he often spent his long vacations at Ajegunle. His father wanted him to be a mechanical engineer, so he attended a technical school, Yaba College of Technology Secondary School, where he studied technical and science subjects, but this was where his school journey ended. He decided to train himself to master his own style of art. Although his formal academic journey ended here, education did not. He read and equipped himself constantly with knowledge and developed his art skill alongside. He grew up listening to Reggae songs and studying metaphysics. His maturity into self and social consciousness was facilitated by Fela Kuti, Peter Tosh, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Kwame Nkrumah and Steve Biko. Lemi is married with four children – Asilem Eweka, Tamara Ajasa, Omotosho, and Odafin-Nevo Shekinah.
Lemi met Fela Kuti in 1974 through Babatunde Harrison (a journalist for Sunday Punch). After Harrison walked into a pub and stumbled on an art work Lemi had done for the pub owner, he requested to see more and he saw one of the illustrations Lemi did of Roforofo Fight . This spurred him to take Lemi to meet Fela. [3] On this first meeting, Fela was impressed with Lemi's work and offered to pay him but he refused the money. [4] This became his ticket into Kalakuta Republic. Lemi's relationship with Fela Anikulapo Kuti was very cordial. He gave Lemi total freedom with his work and thoughts to the level that he just did as he pleased, albeit responsibly, with how and what he wanted to express. Lemi had the rare privilege of putting his photograph and comments on some of the covers and was treated like a son, friend, adviser and comrade by the Afrobeat legend. Ghariokwu's approach to his work with Kuti involved listening to and digesting the music and then expressing his reaction in his paintings, design and comments, which provide a high level of detail on the many album covers he delivered.[ citation needed ]
Ghariokwu's work involves a variety of styles, often using vibrant colours and individuated typefaces of his own design. His art is said to be rebellious, comical, political, even erotic but most of all he is a genius in pictorial narration, realism and iconicity. Many of Ghariokwu's cover images echo and sometimes comment on the work and politics of the recordings that they accompany, serving a consciously integrated meta-textual function. He is famous for his captivating and intricate record sleeves designs and he never fails to give life to lyrics through his pictorial images. He created and mastered 26 of Fela's album covers. The Observer Music Magazine called Ghariokwu "King of Covers" during his solo exhibition in the UK in 2004. [5]
Aside from designing 26 album covers for Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Ghariokwu also designed covers for Osita Osadebe, James Iroha, Bob Marley, Kris Okotie, Lucky Dube, Gilles Peterson, Miriam Makeba, and about a hundred other musicians across the globe. In the early 1980s, Ghariokwu was the consulting album cover designer for Polygram (Phonogram+Polydor) records in Nigeria for 11 years. He also printed and designed album covers for many Kennis Music artists, including 2 Face, Lagbaja, Kenny St. Brown, Sound Sultan and many others, for 11 years. Ghariokwu has designed more than 2000 album covers and facilitated art workshops abroad. He designed for EMI, CBS and Ivory music. He also designed logos for Fame Weekly, Ivory Music and National Encomium. [6]
MTV president Mark Rosenthal commissioned the painting Everybody's Gotta be Somebody from Ghariokwu. This inspired a film documentary by Aaron Koenisberg. [7] Ghariokwu's work has attracted much attention in the West and is the subject of various retrospective exhibitions. [8] His painting Anoda Sistem, created in 2002, is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art. [9]
Some of Ghariokwu's archive is now in the possession of Punch Records, whose CEO Ammo Talwar has invited the academic community to utilise this material in productive ways. [10]
In 2008, twenty of Ghariokwu's artworks were published in Area 2, a book showcasing 100 emerging and influential graphic artists in the world, published by Phaidon Press in New York. [7]
He also designed the cover of Cassava Republic's republication of Fela: This Bitch of a Life – the authorised biography of Fela Kuti by Carlos Moore. [11] [12] In June 2010, Ghariokwu was commissioned and successfully branded FELA-BUS, a sort of marketing mural-on-wheels, for the producers of the hit Broadway musical Fela! in New York. [13]
Ghariokwu designed the cover art for Brymo's sixth studio album Oṣó (2018) and Falz's fourth studio album Moral Instruction (2019). [14] [15]
Ghariokwu's work has been exhibited internationally for more than a decade.
In 1992, Ghariokwu composed a single, featuring Daniel Wilson, titled "Omolakeji". He is passionate about songwriting and music with depth. [20]
In 2015, a pioneering, innovative and socially conscious footwear brand called KEEXS was launched in Nigeria, Africa by the founder Babajide Ipaye. Some of the shoe collection was inspired by some of Ghariokwu's art works.
Afrobeat is a Nigerian music genre that involves the combination of West African musical styles from mainly Nigeria such as the traditional Yoruba and Igbo music and highlife with American funk, jazz, and soul influences. With a focus on chanted vocals, complex intersecting rhythms, and percussion. The style was pioneered in the 1960s by Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who is most known for popularizing the style both within and outside Nigeria. At the height of his popularity, he was referred to as one of Africa's most "challenging and charismatic music performers."
Fela Aníkúlápó Kútì, also famously known as Abàmì Ẹ̀dá, was a Nigerian musician, bandleader, composer, political activist, and Pan-Africanist. He is regarded as the King of Afrobeat, a Nigerian music genre that combines West African music with American funk and jazz. At the height of his popularity, he was referred to as one of Africa's most "challenging and charismatic music performers". AllMusic described him as "a musical and sociopolitical voice" of international significance.
Olufela Olufemi Anikulapo Kuti, popularly known as Femi Kuti, is a Nigerian musician born in London and raised in Lagos. He is the eldest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti and a grandchild of political campaigner, women's rights activist and traditional aristocrat Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti.
Tony Oladipo Allen was a Nigerian and French drummer, composer, and songwriter who lived and worked in Paris, France. Allen was the drummer and musical director of Fela Kuti's band Africa '70 from 1968 to 1979, and was one of the founders of the Afrobeat genre. Fela once stated that "without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat". He was described by Brian Eno as "perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived".
Dr. Bekolari Ransome-Kuti was a Nigerian physician known for his work as a human rights activist.
Expensive Shit is the twelfth full-length album by pioneering Afrobeat artist Fela Kuti and his Africa '70 band, released in 1975. It was reissued in 2000 by MCA Records, packaged with Kuti's He Miss Road (1975) on the same CD.
Oluseun Anikulapo Kuti, popularly known Seun Kuti, is a Nigerian musician, singer and the youngest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. Seun leads his father's former band Egypt 80.
Fela! is a jukebox musical with a book by Bill T. Jones and Jim Lewis, based on music and lyrics by the late Nigerian singer Fela Kuti, with additional music by Aaron Johnson and Jordan McLean and additional lyrics by Jim Lewis. It is based on events in the life of groundbreaking Nigerian composer and activist Fela Anikulapo Kuti. It portrays Kuti in the days when he was the target of 1,000 government soldiers assigned to end his public performances at the legendary Lagos nightclub The Shrine.
Kola Ogunkoya is a Nigerian afrobeat musician who uses the term "Afro Gbedu" to describe his style of music, which includes jazz, highlife, Jùjú, funk and traditional Yoruba music.
Confusion is a 1975 album by Nigerian Afrobeat musician Fela Kuti and his Africa 70 band. It was arranged, composed, and produced by Kuti, who recorded the album after choosing to emphasize his African heritage and nationalism in his music. Confusion is a commentary on the confused state of post-colonial Lagos and its lack of infrastructure and proper leadership at the time. Kuti's pidgin English lyrics depict difficult conditions in the city, including a frenetic, multilingual trading market and inextricable traffic jams in Lagos' major intersections.
No Agreement is an album by Nigerian Afrobeat composer, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Fela Kuti, recorded in 1977 and originally released on the Nigerian Decca label.
Sorrow Tears and Blood is an album by Nigerian Afrobeat composer, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Fela Kuti recorded in 1977 and originally released on the Nigerian Kalakuta label.
Shuffering and Shmiling is an album by Nigerian Afrobeat composer, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Fela Kuti. It was recorded in 1977 and released on the Nigerian Coconut label.
Unknown Soldier is an album by Nigerian Afrobeat composer, bandleader and multi-instrumentalist Fela Kuti, recorded in 1979 and originally released on the Nigerian Skylark label.
L.I.F.E is the debut studio album by Nigerian singer Burna Boy. It was released on August 12, 2013, by Aristokrat Records. The album serves as the follow-up to his second mixtape Burn Identity (2011). L.I.F.E sold 40,000 copies on the first day of its release. Aristokrat Records later sold the album's marketing rights to Uba Pacific for ₦10 million. The album's release was preceded by five singles: "Like to Party", "Tonight", "Always Love You", "Run My Race" and "Yawa Dey".
Felabration is an annual music festival conceived in 1998 by Yeni Anikulapo-Kuti in memory and celebration of her father Fela Kuti, a Nigerian musician and human rights activist known for pioneering the afrobeat genre of music. The one-week-long event which is held annually at the New Afrika Shrine in Ikeja, attracts visitors from different countries and has thus been considered as an official tourist destination by the Lagos State Government.
Ọmọ́yẹni 'Yeni' Aníkúlápó Kútì is a British born Nigerian dancer, singer and descendant of the Ransome-Kuti family. Her grandmother was Nigerian women's rights activist Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. Anikulapo-Kuti pioneered the idea of Felabration, a music festival conceived to celebrate the life and contributions of her late father Fela Kuti to the Nigerian society.
Newen Afrobeat is an Afrobeat band that started in 2009 in Chile. Newen Afrobeat revisits Fela Kuti's musical heritage. The word Newén means 'strength' in the Mapuche language.
Ọmọ́rìnmádé Kútì known professionally as Made Kuti, is a Nigerian afrobeat singer, songwriter and instrumentalist. He released his debut album titled For(e)ward in 2021.
Beasts of No Nation is an album by the Nigerian musician Fela Kuti. It was released in 1989. Kuti is credited with his band Egypt 80.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
