Samuel Akerele, Sammy Guitar (born April 9) is a Nigerian gospel guitarist, singer, and songwriter, popularly known for his use of rest-stroke, alternate picking techniques similar to that of gypsy jazz players such as Django Reinhardt, George Benson etc.
His guitar play pattern, over time, had gained prominence where he’d decided to infuse jazz with gospel highlife, a classical genre flavoured with the West-African musical texture. He’d launched into a successful solo career, alternating between jazz gospels, blues and highlife music. Sammy has enjoyed nothing more than putting on musical shows for his followers to enjoy.
“I have a library of videos of his memorable performances,” one of his followers in Lagos confessed.
Those who love fantasy guitar phrasing and semi-tones would be great admirers. After all, he’s invented his own semi-tone guitar-play array that earned him his very own uniqueness. Popularly known as the EZE- GUITAR-GBURUGBURU-1, his melodic play where he’d introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string slur and shimmering vibrato that creates a distinctive sound that intrigues and transports his listeners. He seems larger than life on stage with his music penetrating into hearts and souls.
Though he hail from Igbobini, Ondo State, South-western part of Nigeria, his style music is driven more by the South-eastern musical tunes and he has being consistent with it. He was first taught guitar by his father, but he choose be study more from one of the guitar legends, Jubu Smith.
Sammy used equipment characteristic of the different periods he played in.
He played guitars made by various manufacturers. He played a Fender Esquire on most of his stage shows. However, he was best known for playing variants of the Gibsons but to commemorate the long-term relationship between him and Ibanez guitar, a very limited-edition model featuring a gold-foil finish inspired by the traditional Japanese Garahaku art form, it defined his musical themes to have being well-grounded in Jazz musical genres studying the mastery George Benson, Paul Jackson Jnr. and Agboola Shadare.
He is planning on his maiden concert and album records.
Connect with Sammy Guitar via Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter: @sammyguita
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