Salvador Sango: The man behind the musical myth

Beneath the melee of the Nigerian Hip-hop revolution lies an oasis of refuge for Nigeria’s silent, but substantial cult army of Rock and Latin-Fusion fans. A band which for over 25 years has been in evolution, all the way to attaining its present dominant form, as the country’s premier Latin-Fusion, this is the phenomenon of Salvador Sango. This band is headed by its equally enigmatic founder and leader, the Greek “Nigerian”- Sotirios Papadopoulos, who in his 27 years in Nigeria has been part of several musical revolutions and broken down several cultural barriers. This is his story

Born in Volos, Greece, Papadopoulos attended school in Greece, before studying Physics at the University of Cologne, He eventually graduated with a PhD in Atomic Physics from Oxford University and later worked with the Nobel Prize-winning team at the Max Planck Institute, Berlin,

In the midst of all this, there was music. He had played in Rock bands in his country of birth, Greece, before moving to the UK where he famously played with Reggae legends Steel Pulse in Birmingham. He had been a session man in the lead-up to their seminal 'Handsworth Revolution' album, upon which a strong filial bond, based on shared ideals of social justice, was formed with its members. He then moved to the US, where he shared a stage with jazz legend Art Blakey - amongst others, whilst conducting post-Doctoral research in Liquid State Metallurgy!

He first visited Nigeria in 1980 and performed live on-stage with Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (whilst dossing out in a slum tenement house in the Ajegunle ghetto, with his friend Feladey), later to emerge as a Nigerian Guitar legend. He returned in 1987, to take up position as Head of the Department of Physics, at the University of Port Harcourt. At Port Harcourt, he played with the Port Harcourt Jazz ensemble and shared a bill with the great Dizzy Gillespie, when he performed at the Port Harcourt Jazz Festival in 1988.

He later moved to Lagos, where he formed his band Spice and continued his collaborations, once more united with his friend- Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, in what are best described as revolutionary but sadly private Bebop Jazz sessions at Frances and Tunde Kuboye's legendary Jazz 38 club. Sango states that the rarely witnessed, deep musical genius and technical ability of Fela was fully on display, even beyond his already phenomenal Afrobeat compositions. The sessions were tragically never recorded. Also noteworthy were his superlative Jazz sessions at Muyiwa Majekodunmi's iconic Jazzville in Lagos- with virtuoso's Femi Elias on Bass, Dele Sosimi on Keyboards and Eric Mann on Drums.

Salvador Sango was formed band in 2005, as the evolution of his musical journey, which had traversed Rock, Traditional Jazz and now berthed in Rock and Latin Fusion. Salvador Sango took the Nigerian music scene by storm with its sheer uniqueness and professionalism. The band's trademarks became Papadopoulos Guitar pyrotechnics and Yoruba and Spanish vocal delivery, backed by his tight group of backing musicians, all highly competent and accomplished young musicians themselves. Slowly building a massive fan-base, starved of the oxygen of this unique musical genre. Salvador Sango went on to release two critically acclaimed albums and performed at practically all major concerts in Nigeria, such as the Lagos Jazz Series, Felabration, Jazz Hole, The Calabar Jazz Festival, Muson and too many more to mention. They were also to blaze a trail internationally, performing in concerts in Europe and building a huge and loyal fan-base.

The band's ethos quite simply being a celebration of the shared heritage and soul of Yoruba and Latin Music. For Papadopoulos, the study of Yoruba traditions and culture was not a gimmick or a joke. He cited the collateral parity between the Greek and Yoruba pantheon of gods. He also cited the high complexity of Yoruba and other African traditional religious and cultural institutions, bemoaning the disconnect with those institutions, in the present time.

Salvador Sango faces the culmination of its first decade on the crest of a wave, will this be the last stop in its musical evolution, or is there more to come? Who knows, but they have never failed to deliver with their high quality, innovative offerings, we eagerly wait and see.