Ola Onabule
Ola Onabule (born 30 March, Islington, London, England) is a British-Nigerian, soul, jazz, singer-songwriter, musician and producer.
Background
Onabule was born in Islington, London. At the age of 7 he returned to Lagos, Nigeria where he spent the next 10 years in education. At the age of 17 he returned to the UK to study A'Levels at Millfield School From there he attended law school almost completing a three-year degree before deciding to enroll at Middlesex Polytechnic for an arts degree. Whilst studying he began to perform in and around London at clubs and music venues and started to perform and write his own material.
Career
Onabule has had a career that spans almost two decades, defined by his decision to release his music independently on his own label Rugged Ram Records. This followed a brief recording contract with Elektra Records (Warner Bros. Records). Ola's first album, More Soul Than Sense, was released in 1995. Ola's has consistently written, recorded his own work for nearly 20 years. His last album, Seven Shades Darker was released in the UK, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland in 2012.[1]
Ola"s new album, It"s The Peace That Deafens to be released in 2014/15.
Onabule has performed internationally at some of the world's most prestigious jazz festivals and concert halls, Since 2009, Onabule has also appeared with Germany's big bands, WDR Big Band Köln and SWR Big Band. Ola also appear with the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg in Potsdam for a concert at the Nikolaisaal featuring arrangements of Ola's material by Peter Hinderthür .
In July 2009, Ola appeared on the main stage of the Montreal Jazz Festival Montreal Jazz Festival in 2009,[2] and Vancouver Jazz Festival at The Performance Works.
In December 2009, Ola co-headlined a series of dates with South African jazz singer, Sibongile Khumalo entitled Soul Noel. The show travelled around the UK leading up to Christmas. The shows featured a fabulous band with choir led by arranger and conductor Kevin Robinson. The series of shows came to the attention of The BBC and Ola was invited to be a featured guest on the BBC 4 TV programme Soul Noel also featuring Beverly Knight.
In June 2010, Ola returned to Canada and performed at Victoria Jazz Festival on the main stage, Vancouver Jazz Festival at The Commodore Ballroom and The Edmonton Jazz Festival on the main stage as well as an appearance at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton.
In Summer 2012, Ola Onabule, performed his first concerts in the Baltic region. He was invited to perform at Estonia's renowned Muhu Future Music Festival and at the highly regarded Saulkrasti Jazz Festival in Latvia . On this first visit to Estonia Ola was also introduced to The ETV Choir and performed a concert with them in a church in Saramaa.
This wonderful collaboration led to Ola returning in December 2012 for further concerts with Villu Veski (esteemed saxophonist) and the ETV Girls Choir leading to a concert in the capital Tallinn, in the famous Kaarli Church which was produced and filmed by ETV. The concert was broadcast in December 2012 on ETV. The show was also broadcast on WCNY-TV in New York State on 22 December 2013. This collaboration has led to a concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre on 6 April 2014.
Ola returned to Latvia in 2013 for shows with The Mirage Jazz Orchestra . The performance at The Saulkrasti Jazz Festival was so well received that the promoters decided to bring Ola back to perform in November 2013 for two shows at The Splendid Palace in Riga.
In December 2013, Ola returns to perform for the third time with WDR Big Band Köln. The studio recording was filmed and broadcast via live streaming. The show also featured the talents of German Harmonica player, Berthold Matschat. Two sold out shows followed with a radio broadcast of the last show on WDR Radio.
In January 2014, Ola performed with the SWR Big Band a 1 hour TV special of his original material arranged by Klaus Wagenleiter. The programme was filmed at the SWR Studios in Stuttgart to be broadcast in 2014. The first TV broadcast took place on 27 July on SWR TV 2014.
in February 2014, Ola performed at Porgy & Bess Vienna. On 30 April, Ola performed at Romania's International Jazz Day with Villu Veski and a youth jazz orchestra in Cluj Napoca.
In May 2014, Ola performed three shows in Germany including Sendesaal, (previously home of Radio Bremen).
In May 2014, Ola performed a fabulous show with a US band at The Cutting Room New York with Lionel Cordew on drums Jonathan Maron on bass and Robin Macantagay on guitar.
In June 2014, Ola appeared at the Muhu future Music Festival with Jason Rebello on piano, Villu Veski on saxophone and Jukka Eskola on trumpet.
in July 2014 Ola appeared at the Istanbul Jazz Festival with his six piece band including Villu Veski and Guido May and drums.
In November 2014, Ola appeared in Mexico with the Orchestra of San Luis Potosi performing orchestral arrangements of his songs at the closing of Cinema Fest. Concha Buika opened the Festival.
In November 2014, Ola appeared in Frankfurt with China Moses and the HR Big Band for a concert of 1920s songs which were originally performed with Ola Onabule and China Moses with the WDR Big Band of Cologne.
At the end of November 2014 Ola appeared at THe Lagos Jazz Festival in Nigeria as the headline act.
On December 2014, Ola appeared with his band for the first time in Nigeria at the Lagos Jazz Series mid series event at La Scala, The Muson Centre. The show elicited a great press response as well as TV and radio interviews.
In December 2014, Ola appeared with the WDR Big Band of Cologne performing a series of special Christmas concerts of songs arranged for Ola Onabule by the US arranger RIchard De Rosa.
In Spring 2015, Ola's Onabule track Soul Town, taken from his fifth album IN EMERGENCY BRAKE SILENCE released in 2004 was given a complete remix overhaul. The project was masterminded by Gary Van Den Bussche of DSG Music for release on 13th April. The remixes have been produced by Colin Watson, Nigel Lowis and Mike Maurro. The tracks will be available on download on Itunes and Amazon.
On 30th April 2015, Ola will perform at Romania International Jazz Day closing their main event. Ola will also perform three other shows alongside three other shows in Romania including Bucharest .
Ola Onabule also performed with a song called Stand ! in Okan Ersan's second album called "A Reborn Journey".
Discography
Albums
| Year | Title | Record label | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | More Soul Than Sense | Rugged Ram Records | |||
| 1997 | From Meaning, Beyond Definition | Rugged Ram Records | |||
| 1999 | Precious Libations for Silent Gods | Rugged Ram Records | |||
| 2001 | Ambitions for Deeper Breath | Rugged Ram Records | |||
| 2004 | In Emergency, Brake Silence | Rugged Ram Records | |||
| 2007 | The Devoured Man | Rugged Ram Records | |||
| 2011 | Seven Shades Darker | Rugged Ram Records | 2015 | Soul Town | Disco Soul Gold - Single with remixes by Nigel Lowis, Mike Maurro and Colin Watson |
| 2015 | It's The Peace That Deafens | Rugged Ram Records | |||
References
1. Vogue, Italian (2011). Files: http://www.vogue.it/en/uomo-vogue/stars/2011/08/ola-onabule)''. Vogue.
2. CNN, AfricanVoices (August 2011). Files: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/09/ola.onabule.nigeria/)''. CNN.
3. ACS, BespokeMonitors (May 2011). Files: http://www.acscustom.com/uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=109:ola-onabules-in-depth-thoughts-on-the-t2&catid=12:customer-comments&Itemid=85)''. ACS. 4. Bowers&Wilkins, Zeppelin (March 2011). Files: http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/Society_of_Sound/Society_of_Sound/Music/ola-onabule.html)''. B&W. 5. USA, JAZZREVIEW. Files: http://www.jazzreview.com/artist-interviews/item/28725-ola-onabule-in-conversation.html''.
6. TheStraight, Vancouver,Canada (2 July 2009). Files: http://www.straight.com/article-237597/ola-onabule-puts-serious-thought-his-soul)''. B&W.
7. Jazz, AllAboutJazz (June 2009). Files: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=20279)''. ALLABOUTJAZZ.
8. Lime, Magazine,London (2 July 2009). Files: http://www.comelime.com/reviews/oct2010/ola-onabule.html)''. B&W.
9. Myweku, OnlineMagazine (9 February 2010). Files: http://www.myweku.com/2010/02/2096/)''. MyWeku.
10. Online, NigeriaNews. Files: http://www.nigerianewsline.com/ola-onabule-seven-shades-darker/''.
11. Gossip, Nollywood. Files: http://www.nollywoodgossip.net/2011/06/06/my-plans-for-2011-to-act-in-nigerian-nollywood-movies-ola-onabule-tells-nollywoodgossip/''.
12. BBC, Music. Files: http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/artists/d0cec0fa-5d79-4916-9411-5ecaf135ed81/''.
13. PressRelease, Nigeria. Files: http://www.nigeriapr.com/ola-onabules-7th-studio-album-entitled-seven-shades-darker/''.
14. The, Guaridan. Files: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/sep/04/popandrock.worldmusic''.
15. The, BBC. Files: http://www.bbc.co.uk/suffolk/going_out/music/reviews/2004/04/ola_onabule/review.shtml''.
16. BBC, LooseEnds. Files: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tnbzy''.
17. EdmontonJournal, Canada (26 June 2010). Files: http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=25368687-96d2-4f6c-887a-bd0f81ab6521)''. B&W.
18. NorthShoreNews, Canada. Files: http://www.nsnews.com/entertainment/Lagos+calling/5730616/story.html''.
19. Germany, Schwaebische-Post. Files: http://www.schwaebische-post.de/583207/''.
20. PeaceArchNews, Canada. Files: http://www.peacearchnews.com/entertainment/134408833.html?c=y&curSection=/&curTitle=BC+Arts+%26+Entertainment&bc09=true''.
21. TimesColunist, Canada. Files: http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/Soul+sang+Posh+Spice+wedding/5760209/story.html''.
22. VancouverSun, Canada. Files: http://www.vancourier.com/entertainment/Tour+puts+juice+machine+Brit+singer/5723794/story.html''.
23. TheNation, Nigeria. Files: http://thenationonlineng.net/new/ola-onabule-headlines-lagos-jazz-series/''.
24. TheGuardian, Nigeria. Files:http://ngrguardiannews.com/artnew/174126-jazzing-la-scala-with-homeboy-ola-onabule/''.
25. BellaNaija, Nigeria. Files:http://www.bellanaija.com/2014/07/15/enjoy-the-soulful-sounds-of-ola-onabule-more-at-the-2014-lagos-jazz-series-this-august//''.
26. TheGuardian, Nigeria. Files:http://ngrguardiannews.com/artnew/172236-homeboy-ola-onabule-returns-for-lagos-jazz-series//''.