1. Michael Babatunde Olatunji was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist, and recording artist.
20 Facts About Babatunde Olatunji
1. 2.
Babatunde Olatunji's father was a local fisherman who was about to rise to the rank of chieftain, and his mother was a potter.
3.
Babatunde Olatunji grew up speaking the Gun and Yoruba languages.
4.
Babatunde Olatunji read in Reader's Digest magazine about the Rotary International Foundation's scholarship program, and applied for it.
5.
Babatunde Olatunji's application was successful and he went to the United States in 1950 to attend Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
6.
In Morehouse, Olatunji became good friends with Morehouse College Glee Club director Dr Wendell P Whalum.
7.
Babatunde Olatunji never sang in the Glee Club, but collaborated with Whalum on a staple of the choir's repertoire, "Betelehemu", a Nigerian Christmas carol.
8.
Babatunde Olatunji won a following among jazz musicians, by infusing Nigerian rhythms with elements drawn from Ghanaian and Afro-Caribbean traditions.
9.
Babatunde Olatunji is mentioned in the lyrics of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Free," recorded for the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.
10.
Babatunde Olatunji contributed to Peace Is the World Smiling: A Peace Anthology for Families on the Music for Little People label.
11.
Babatunde Olatunji was known for making an impassioned speech for social justice before performing in front of a live audience.
12.
Babatunde Olatunji toured the American south with Rev Martin Luther King Jr.
13.
Babatunde Olatunji was a music educator, and invented a method of teaching and recording drum patterns which he called the "Gun-Dun, Go-Do, Pa-Ta" method after the different sounds made on the drum.
14.
Babatunde Olatunji taught drum and dance workshops year-round starting in the late 1950s.
15.
Babatunde Olatunji co-wrote Musical Instruments of Africa: Their Nature, Use and Place in the Life of a Deeply Musical People with Betty Warner-Dietz.
16.
Babatunde Olatunji taught a summer drumming and African dance course with his wife, at the Omega Institute in Rhinebeck, New York for many summers during Family week.
17.
Babatunde Olatunji taught at the Esalen Institute in California beginning in 1985.
18.
In 1997, Babatunde Olatunji was impresario for the Ghana Dance Ensemble, bringing the world famous performance and education group from Accra, Ghana, to tour the US.
19.
In early 2000, Babatunde Olatunji purchased a home in Washington, DC, where he lived for a short time, along with his roommate, Professor Akinsola Akiwowo.
20.
Babatunde Olatunji was survived by his wife Amy, 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and a cousin, Akinsola Akiwowo.