Adé Bantu

Adé Bantu Biography / Profile

Adegoke Odukoya (known as Ade Bantu) was born in Wembley, London, UK on July 14th, 1971 to a Nigerian father, Adeleke Odukoya, and a German mother, Barbara Odukoya. He is a musician, music and film producer, and apprentice of life.

Adé Bantu Age

Adé Bantu is 53 years old.

Adé Bantu Early Life

Born in London, Ade grew up there before relocating with his parents to Lagos, Nigeria in 1973. After the death of his father in 1986 he moved with his mother and 3 siblings to Germany. He is the elder brother of musician Abiodun. He got his nickname from his childhood friends.

Adé Bantu Career

Bantu started music with a school band in Germany some 25 years ago. The group recorded a demo tape, shopped it around and sruck a record deal. The name of the band was Exponential Enjoyment. Bantu released two albums with that group after which he moved on to various bands and projects before setting up Bantu in 1999. So far, he has recorded five albums with Bantu and a grand total of 11 albums in 20 years of music making. He has worked with people like Tony Allen, recorded with UB40 and so many Nigerian artists.

Banti's songs are inspired by love, poetry, paintings, smiles, faces in subways or buses, the struggles of the people in the Niger Delta, fuel scarcity, Lagos traffic, Sufism, Ifa, so many things. He is also involved as a producer of a cinema documentary called ‘Elders Corner.’ It’s the history of Nigeria told through its musical icons and their works. He featured in Akwaeke Zara Emezi’s short film, ‘Ududeagu.’

In an Interview with CNN, Ade noted that he delved into music for the passion and because he felt a certain connection with it and not because of fame or money that comes with it. About his performance at the live Afropolitan vibes, the singer says he puts a lot of work into putting up the shows, and neither he or his band get paid for the shows; their reward, he says, is looking into the crowd.

Whilst in Germany, the musician set up an NGO and a musical group called Brothers Keepers, to address racism and xenophobia. The NGO scored a top 10 hit and managed to raise a lot of money for victims of racist attacks and their families. Back home in Nigeria, he set up a creative arts project called BornTroWay, which runs free free music, poetry, dance and drama workshops for teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15 and 22. So far, he has worked in Ajegunle, Oshodi, Bariga and Obalende in Lagos and Port Harcourt. The NGO was also invited to the Word Climate Conference in Durban, South Africa.

Adé Bantu Personal Life

Ade loves reading, going to museums, travelling on trains and planes, hiking, crossing boarders and discovering new places. He also enjoys cooking and listening to live music. In October 2014, he cut off his signature dreadlocks which he was identified with since he was 20 years old.

Bantu believes that the courage of his father as a Nigerian picking out a German lady for a wife and vice-versa inspired him and gave him hopes to live out his dream.

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Adé Bantu Awards

Bantu was awarded the Nordrhein Westphalia Cultural Prize in 1997 for the Hiphop musical Coloured Children, a piece he wrote and co-directed with Anita Berger
With Brothers Keepers he was awarded the 1LIVE Krone Radio Award for "Adriano (die Letzte Warnung)" in the category "Best Single of the year 2001".
He won the 2005 Kora Award, Africa’s version of the American Grammy Awards, for his album ‘Fuji Satisfaction.