Guest: Leon "Kaleta" Ligan-Majekodunmi (Afrobeat guitarist, composer, bandleader)
Host: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi, aka SoSaLa, MFM President

• Kaleta’s early life in Benin
  • Growing up near the Nigerian border
  • Secretly learning guitar against family expectations
  • First musical breakthroughs through church and street performances
• Moving to Lagos at age 15
  • Learning English while building a music career
  • Immersion in juju, highlife, and early Afrobeat
  • Joining King Sunny Adé’s band as a teenager
• Writing and recording “E Ba Mi Dupe”
  • Kaleta’s composition recorded by King Sunny Adé
  • Breakdown of juju guitar techniques
• Joining Fela Kuti
  • Auditioning at the Shrine
  • Life inside Kalakuta Republic
  • Afrobeat as discipline, politics, and collective thinking
  • Touring globally with Fela through the 1980s and early ’90s
• Immigration and life after Fela
  • Staying in the U.S. after Fela’s final tour (1991)
  • Rebuilding from scratch
  • Founding multiple Afrobeat projects in New York
• Working with Lauryn Hill
  • A chance rehearsal encounter led to touring together
  • Afrobeat’s influence across genres and generations
• “Country of Guns”
  • Writing the song after witnessing gun violence news in the U.S.
  • Music as social commentary, not just entertainment
• Afrobeat in America
  • Thoughts on Antibalas and non-African Afrobeat bands
  • Afrobeat vs. modern Afrobeats
  • Afrobeat as “roots music,” not museum music
• Music, organizing, and musicians’ rights
  • FESTAC 77 FESTIVAL and Pan-Africanism
  • Why musicians must act collectively
  • Parallels between Fela’s activism and MFM’s mission

King Sunny Adé – E Ba Mi Dupe (composed/arranged by Kaleta)

Zozo Afrobeat – Country of Guns

Kaleta & Super Yamba Band – Mr. Diva

Kaleta & Super Yamba Band – Ajogan Blues

Credits
Producer and host: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi aka SoSaLa
Publisher: Musicians For Musicians (MFM), Inc.
Technical support: Adam Reifsteck (MFM Board)

https://musiciansformusicians.org

ABOUT THE EVENT

Musicians For Musicians Celebrates 10 Years of Music Advocacy with Star-Studded Performance Event at The Cutting Room

"In this crazy time with so much social-political-cultural turmoil happening here in the US and around the world,” says Ladjevardi, “I firmly believe that musicians' vital role is to speak out for their communities and come up with messages that will create solidarity among a particular group of people and unite them to fight for their cause. Musicians are the most powerful artists whose sounds can have an impact on people's conscience in a second." - Sohrab aka SoSaLa

Musicians For Musicians (MFM), a nonprofit association founded in 2015 by saxophonist and activist Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi aka SoSaLa, emerged from a deep need to organize freelance musicians into a unified voice for fair compensation, labor protection, and industry recognition.

Advocating for the rights, recognition, and fair pay of freelance and independent musicians proudly announces its 10th Anniversary Celebration on Friday, September 5, at The Cutting Room in New York City. This special event kicks off at 9:00 p.m., with musical performances starting at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are free for MFM members and $20 for non-members.

Over the past decade, MFM has united musicians across genres and geographies under a single mission: to raise music from a passion to a profession through advocacy, education, and solidarity. From educational webinars and podcasts to championing the Freelance Isn’t Free Act and amplifying national campaigns for fair streaming royalties and AI protections, MFM has been a driving force in elevating music as a profession.

The highlight of the evening will be an exceptional performance by the MFM Unity Ensemble, featuring Grammy Award-winning saxophonist/band leader and educator Joe Lovano and 8x Grammy Award-winning pianist/composer/ band leader and Afro Latin Jazz Alliance founder Arturo O’Farrill. Their collaboration will celebrate both MFM’s mission and the power of collective musical expression.

Later in the evening, there will be another exceptional performance by New York’s Nu NO WAVE band SoSaLa — led by saxophonist/singer SoSaLa—featuring guitarist Mark C. (Live Skull) and drummer Andy Weintraub. Together, they will create music that transcends both rock and jazz.

The event will also include remarks from MFM board members, Advisory Committee representatives, and video tributes from supporters.

Supporters can support the organization by purchasing limited-edition MFM merchandise, including event-branded T-shirts. 100% of ticket and merch proceeds will go to benefit MFM’s ongoing programs and campaigns.

Credits
Producer and host: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi aka SoSaLa
Publisher: Musicians For Musicians (MFM), Inc.
Technical support: Adam Reifsteck (MFM Board)

https://musiciansformusicians.org

In this episode of MFMSpeaks Out, Dawoud Kringle and Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi discuss the birth, history, mission, and future of Musicians For Musicians. Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi's inspiration for founding MFM, the problems in putting the organization together, including how to define its objectives and methods, MFM's relationship with other musician organizations (such as the Musicians Union), how to attract and grow our membership, the economics of the music business and the importance of musicians getting paid fairly for their work, the state of mind many musicians are in where they do not understand how to turn their music into a profession, Sohrab's experience with Justice for Jazz Artists, MFM's accomplishments, MFM's services and value to our members, MFM's activism, the need for organization between musicians, the DYI method and operating as an independent musician, the future of the music business, the empowerment of musicians, and the future of MFM.

Credits
Producer and host: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi aka SoSaLa
Publisher: Musicians For Musicians (MFM), Inc.
Technical support: Adam Reifsteck (MFM Board)

https://musiciansformusicians.org