Episode Details

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We are joined in the Chatterbox studio by Sola Akingbola of Jamiroquai.

Every now and again we come across a rather outstanding artist and I think we have just found a new one...by the name of SOLA AKINGBOLA (his first name is pronounced 'Shola'). If his name is familiar, that might be because he is also the longtime percussionist with Jamiroquai.

Part 1 of Sola's new album, entitled 'How Should I', will be released this Friday and the plan is to promote his music via a succession of planned single releases taken from the album, 'Touch My Soul' being the first and current one (listening and download link below). Part 2 of the album will be released in 2025 and as with Part 1, it has been recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London.

Sola recently received the Best Film & TV Score BMI Award for the second year running, for his work on Bob Hearts Abishola which attracted over 5 million viewers for its most recent season five. In between his work with Jamiroquai, Sola has been writing scores for the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre’s production of Othello in 2023.

Sola Akingbola Percussionist for Jamiroquai.Back-to-back MBI Award Winner for Best Television Music Score in 2023 & 2024 (US hit TV comedy ‘Bob Hearts Abishola).Co-Composer of The National Theatre’s production of Othello in 2023.Composer and performer in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Hamlet in 2016/2017 featuring a young Paapa Esiedu.Met Diego Maradona in Argentina at an amazing restaurant in Buenos Aires that sold the best chocolate cakes he’d ever tasted!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------How Should I, is an album that has three sources or rivers if you like and album speaks and asks questions of the ideas of Family, Identity and Spirit. Each track can be heard and visualised as a vista, inner and outer. Once we have entered that inner space and pushed through the realms of darkness and difficulty, coming back into the connected outer world, for most of us, we cannot be in or see the world in the same way, hence the title ‘How Should I’. These ideas are universal, all cultures have their modes of expressing this tension and awareness and the many interpretations as to how to express it.

We recorded most of this album live. I felt that it was important to capture the way we played together in the various studios we recorded in. Each recording space had its own atmosphere, which brought something to the sound and songs.

The compositions are a homage to the great songwriters of the past and the way music was played and performed. It is hard to beat that feeling of being in a room with great musicians and getting ready to laydown something that felt special.

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