Just Announced King Sunny Adé cancels North American tour

King Sunny Adé has just announced the cancellation of his entire North American tour, including an April 30 stop at the Boulder Theater. The Nigerian Juju master—the first among many so-called “world music” ambassadors to be promoted in the U.S.—was originally scheduled for a two-month-long outing beginning in early April, but has since had to pull out after two members of his African Beats band were killed in a car accident in late March. A statement from the band’s publicist explains:

On March 26, 2010, a tragic car accident took the lives of two members of the African Beats, talking drummer Gabriel Ayanniyi and percussionist Omo Olope, who were en route to a video shoot for a forthcoming recording. When the U.S. Embassy refused to grant visas to replacement members in a timely manner, there was confusion about the possible courses of action. At the same time, it became clear that the artist and the band had neither recovered from the impact of the tragedy, nor were they able to find consensus on how to move forward with normal touring. As a result, the North American April/May 2010 tour has been canceled until such a time as King Sunny Adé and his group have sufficiently regrouped and are ready to face the rigors of an international tour again.