tributary

I.K. Dairo

Isaiah Kehinde Dairo MBE led the Blue Spots, and through the late 1950s and '60s modernized juju music by working in the accordion, Latin-tinged rhythms and Yoruba talking drums alongside its call-and-response vocal core. He was the first African musician awarded an MBE (1963) and is widely credited as juju's defining early architect, the ground later juju stars like King Sunny Adé built on.

the sound in question
1967
SalomeI.K. Dairo

we haven’t charted I.K. Dairo yet

this stretch of the river isn’t mapped. we trace the watershed one artist at a time — and we’re always heading further upstream.

downstream