by SCOTT C

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that in the city of Montreal, soulful house and garage tend to take a backseat to the many incarnations of techno and progressive house that most of the big clubs and after-hours here like to entertain, week after week. There’s no real explanation for the imbalance, but a recent visitor told me quite frankly that this town was too fascinated with soulless bleeps and blips.

Assuming it takes a certain amount of openness to find the soul in anything, Montreal is probably one step ahead of the game, but ask the garage heads in this city where they get their fix and they’ll probably bring up Jojo Flores. After five years of holding down his weekly Therapy happening at Jello Bar, in between jetting to Toronto, New York, Philly, L.A., Chicago and many other North American cities, Jojo decided to try his hand at the record label business. Gotsoul Records released their debut single “Obatala Y Oduduwa,” produced by Osunlade, this year, and is projecting several more releases in 2003, but in the coming months, the label could see new levels of notoriety. Teaming up with R2 Records, Jojo will be touring North America with Osunlade, perhaps one of the most prolific producers of soulful house and Afro-Latin vibes right now.

“I was playing at this club in L.A. called Does Your Mama Know,” says Jojo, “and this guy Saint was playing before me, and we became friends. I ran into him again at the Winter Music Conference in Miami and he asked me if I knew who Osunlade was, because they were travelling together. I knew who he was because I had been buying his records again and again—and mispronouncing his name.”

Osunlade (pronounced “oh-shun-la-day”) had quietly introduced himself to the house world with a slew of solid releases on his own label, Yoruba Records. Songs like “Cantos A Ochun Et Oya” and “Native Tongue,” as well as “Latin Café” and “Que Vive El Canto,” brought much attention to the sound of this talented producer, who was also getting props as a DJ.

“I got a call from Jason Palma and Dee Jay Nav in Toronto saying that they wanted to bring Osunlade up to T.O. for a gig, and I told them I had met him in Miami and it was totally possible. So that first time he came up, he played here, and then we had five hours on the 401 to get to know each other, just talking shit about music, the industry and whatever.”

That talk has since grown into a strong friendship, a mutual respect and, most recently, a business move. This month Flores and Osunlade will team up to promote their individual efforts and their joint ventures with a North American tour to support Gotsoul and Osunlade’s new mixed CD Offering on R2 Records. For Flores, connecting with Osunlade allows him to see the master at work, and also to provide support for a likeminded artist who is trying to make headway in the tricky business of underground independent music. For Osunlade, it means all-important North American promotion, where surprisingly, he does not get the respect that he so obviously deserves.

Clubland cleric

Osunlade is not your average cat. Many people will remember his first visit to Montreal where he proceeded to rock the room for the entire night with a four-inch bone through his nose. On top of being a multi-talented R&B/soul producer who is equally capable of making deep, spiritual, Afro-influenced house music, he is also a fully ordained priest in the African religion of Ifa.

Ifa beliefs contain the sum total of the knowledge and wisdom of the ancients, existence, and the divine wisdom of the Orishas, the gods. Everything in the universe and our lives that has happened, is happening or will happen is contained within these beliefs.

“Whatever comes out is what comes out,” Osunlade explains. “I don’t really concentrate on the logistics of it. I think my music is received a lot better specifically because it comes out of my spirit and my mood. It’s not about the greatest musicianship or the greatest production. Ifa is 100 per cent of my life and is definitely at the core of everything, so of course it comes out in my music.”

Not exactly cut from the same cloth as a lot of New York’s house elite, he has a certain modesty and constant humility that allows the music to say everything that needs to be said.

“Most people don’t know that I come from a background of producing mainstream artists, so it was pretty easy for me to switch to being an independent. I’ve seen the other side, and it’s so much more political and non-creative. When I started Yoruba, it was on my own terms, and I tried to focus on the creative instead of it being an afterthought.”

After the majors

Having spent over 10 years as a major-label producer, working with the likes of Patti Labelle, Musiq Soulchild, Eric Benet and Lauryn Hill, Osunlade began to see huge opportunities in the New York house scene. “As far as I could see, that shit was dead. Nobody was doing anything special or innovative, so for me it was pretty easy to step up to the plate. It was an opportunity for me to take some personal credit for once, instead of no credit at all. People don’t read the liner notes, so they’d never know who was responsible for a song.”

Nobody is saying that being an independent artist with your own record label is easy, but when he explains that the music is the first and last word in everything he does, then things start to make a lot more sense. “The majors basically bit their heads off when they took out all of the creative people, and replaced them with people who could increase numbers. There will always be people who buy into MTV and commercial radio out there, but people who have some sense of emotion and some musical connection will always look for that something more. I like to concentrate on that.”

Already having been in the pole position as far as producing for major players, Osunlade’s continuing work with names like Wumni, and Nadirah Shakoor makes you wonder if he’s landed all the big fish that he’s wanted to. “The only person that I’d want to work with that would be more of a dream to me, or just an artistic challenge, would be Prince. I think he was probably the most influential person for me, musically, when I was growing up. I’m just disappointed with the things he’s giving me now,” he laughs. “It’s like, c’mon, man. Take off the heels, let’s get some piano, bass and drums and let’s go, y’know? It’s probably easier to make happen than I think, but to get a humble situation is much more difficult. I think it has to happen on its own.”

Breaking open broken beat

While New York tries to decide if Osunlade has paid his dues or not, been in the trenches long enough, or deserves the kudos he’s been receiving, once again Europe and the U.K. have embraced him with open arms. Fresh off the plane from playing Gilles Peterson’s syndicated Worldwide show on BBC Radio 1 just last week, it’s easy to see why he’s been aligned with a more international pool of DJs and producers, all concerned with pushing things just a little further. But just as he has concerns about the New York scene, Osunlade has something to say about another bustling movement.

“The whole West London movement has been great, and broken beat has definitely been pushing the envelope and testing genre boundaries, but the problem with broken beat is that a lot of the songs lack some sort of song structure. It’s just sounds, production and grooves. It’s also the people involved with that whole scene that have an angry, resentful side to them. The scene needs to grow and expand as well, and stop trying to alienate themselves.”

Osunlade’s been travelling two or three weeks of every month since May of 2001, laying down lush DJ sets and taking care of business from city to city. There always seems time to put out another record as well. “I really enjoy travelling, but I just moved to Puerto Rico, and I haven’t really been able to go home yet and relax,” he says longingly. “I am getting ready to start on the next record though, so I’ll definitely be slowing down for a while and staying home to work.”

It was rumoured for a while that Osunlade was thinking about moving to Montreal, based on the warm reception he’d received, and a general love for the city. “I love Canada, specifically Montreal, and I wanted to build a relationship with Jojo as well as have family in Montreal. It’s just a very comfortable feeling that I get from there. I ended up moving to Puerto Rico because of land, opportunity and a slower life. I’m still putting my studio together out there, building things for the specific needs of the new record, but it’s coming along.” :

Osunlade and Jojo Flores kick off their tour, with guests
Miles Moore and percussionist Gabriele Poso, at
Jello tonight, Thursday, Nov. 21, 10pm, $10