Onyeabor's distinctive rhythmic, funkadelic, spacey synthesiser-orientated grooves were composed in the 1970s and 1980s when he was a prolific composer / performer, highly original and forward thinking. Since then he has gained a cult following amidst musicians and music aficionados.
An anthology of his old work Who is William Onyeabor? was released by David Byrne's Luaka Bop record label last year, and this was recently followed by a live concert tour to bring the Onyeabor experience to an inquisitive public.
Gray was approached directly by Luaka Bop who had seen his lighting and visual design work for Kasabian and various other live artists as well as his international video art. They asked him to come up with a complete visual concept for the live shows.
"I could hardly believe it." says Gray, "The music is just fantastic ... it's eclectic, idiosyncratic, has a huge energy, an amazing rhythm and is completely bonkers - so it ticked all my boxes."
Apart from that, he adds, "It was a real honour to be asked to be involved - many of the artists involved are among my favourites".
In addition to Byrne this included Money Mark (Beastie Boys) on keyboards; saxophonist Joshua Redman, Devonté Hynes of Blood Orange; Pat Mahoney (formally drummer for LCD Soundsystem); indie pop singers Alexis Taylor of Hot Chip and Luke Jenner (The Rapture) & Bloc Party's frontman Kele Okereke and the Lijado Sisters also from Nigeria who recorded their own post Afrobeat music in the 1980s. In the UK they were joined by Damon Albarn.
Gray specified a projection system for each show and provided his own Catalyst media server for the tour, onto which he programmed all the bespoke video footage and operated this using his own Hog 4 Nanno and Hog 4 PC control system. He also directed and cued the local lighting operators at each venue.
For lighting, Gray specified a small 'specials' package comprising Martin MAC 101s and MAC 700 Profiles which were used in conjunction with the various venue house lighting systems.
The high profile gigs were The Barbican in London, The Warfield in San Francisco, The Greek in LA and the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Gilman Opera House in New York.
(Jim Evans)
