Sola Akingbola Interviewed by Nicholas Janni

Drummer with the English funk and acid jazz band Jamiroquai Sola Akingbola talks about his music, his Yoruba heritage in West Africa, and music and song as a gateway of connection. He will also perform on the drums at this event. 

Akingbola was born to Yoruba parents in Nigeria but has spent most of his life in London. He says he was always seduced by the Yoruba language and the way it was expressed in drumming. He entered the jazz scene in the early 1990s with the Ronny Jordan band and went on to join the well-known jazz funk band Jamiroquai. His solo work includes Routes To Roots: Yoruba Drums From Nigeria.

Here he talks to leadership development expert Nicholas Janni. The pair have known each other for 30 years and played together in the Ubiquity percussion trio with the Japanese master drummer Joji Hirota. Janni is a former actor and director and spent periods learning the djembe drumming tradition of the Ivory Coast and traditional Japanese drumming.