THIS MOVIE IS DEDICATED TO BABATUNDE OLATUNJI
"When you give love, you get love back.Remember, it is in giving that we--what? Receive!"
—Babatunde Olatunji
The film is dedicated to BABA OLATUNJI, the great master drummer from the Yoruba tribe in Nigeria, who deeply inspired the modern drum circle movement. Legions of friends and students counted him as a great influence in their lives -- musically as well as spiritually. He was considered by many to be a "living legend." In 2001, two years before his passing, "Baba" Olatunji was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame.
Michael Babatunde Olatunji (born April 7, 1927 – April 6, 2003) was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist, and recording artist. As a member of the Yoruba people, Olatunji was introduced to traditional African music at an early age. He came to the United States in 1950 on a Rotary Scholarship to study at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. After graduating from Morehouse, he went on to NYU to study public administration. There, in New York City, he started a small percussion group to earn money while he continued his studies. In 1957 he was signed to Columbia Records and two years later released his first album, Drums of Passion. Drums of Passion became a major hit and remains in print; it introduced many Americans to world music. Drums of Passion also served as the band's name.
Olatunji won a following among jazz musicians, notably creating a strong relationship with John Coltrane, with whose help he founded the Olatunji Center for African Culture in Harlem. This was the site of Coltrane's final recorded performance. Coltrane wrote the composition "Tunji" on the 1962 album Coltrane in dedication to him. Olatunji recorded with many other prominent musicians (often credited as "Michael Olatunji"), including Cannonball Adderley (on his 1961 African Waltz album), Horace Silver, Quincy Jones, Pee Wee Ellis, Stevie Wonder, Randy Weston, and with Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln on the pivotal Freedom Now Suite aka We Insist!, and with Grateful Dead member Mickey Hart on his Grammy winning Planet Drum projects. He is also mentioned in the lyrics of Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Free" as recorded on the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.
In 1969, Carlos Santana had a major hit with his cover version of "Jin-go-lo-ba" from Olatunji's first album, which Santana recorded on his debut album, Santana, as "Jingo". Olatunji's subsequent recordings include Drums of Passion: The Invocation (1988), Drums of Passion: The Beat (1989) (which included Airto Moreira and Carlos Santana), Love Drum Talk (1997), and Circle of Drums (2005). Olatunji was known for making an impassioned speech for social justice before performing in front of a live audience. His progressive political beliefs are outlined in The Beat of My Drum: An Autobiography, with a foreword by Joan Baez, (Temple University Press, 2005). He toured the American south with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr and joined King in the march on Washington. When he performed before the United Nations General Assembly, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev took off his shoes and danced. Later, he was one of the first outside performers to perform in Prague at Václav Havel's request. On July 21, 1979, he appeared at the Amandla Festival along with Bob Marley, Dick Gregory, Patti LaBelle and Eddie Palmieri, amongst others. 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. He taught drum and dance workshops year-round starting in the late 1950s. Over the years he presented workshops nationally and internationally at colleges, universities, civic, cultural, and governmental organizations.