Nigerian Juju music maestro, King Sunny Ade (KSA) was forced to cancel his upcoming American tour by the U.S. State Department, after visa problems brought on by a U.S. State Department computer glitch developed.
KSA was scheduled to kick off his tour next month (Jul 15), but the ongoing visa delay has left him with no choice but to pull the gigs, including a set at Chicago, Illinois’ Square Roots Festival.
According the organizer of the event, Alisa Baum, from the Old Town School of Folk Music, “We are beyond disappointed that King Sunny Ade has been forced to cancel his entire tour.
“As a passionate fan of African music, I was very excited about this show, which promised to be spectacular with over 20 musicians and dancers onstage.”
King Sunny Ade is canceling his entire U.S. tour set for this summer, including a show July 6 at the Pritzker Pavilion as part of the Downtown Sound series, as well as one the following Sunday at the Square Roots Festival in Lincoln Square.
“The recent problems that the U.S. has had processing visas has had worldwide repercussions that are quite serious,” she added. “In the grand scheme of things, this cancelation doesn’t have a huge impact, but it is still a major loss for our festival.”
Baum said an additional artist would be added to the Sunday Square Roots lineup to fill Ade’s scheduled slot at 6 p.m.
According to The New York Times, the U.S. State Department blamed “a global computer hardware failure” that has held up visa processing around the world for the last two weeks.
KSA first played Chicago 32 years ago as part of the last ChicagoFest. The he came with a large band of about 25 people, many of them percussionists whose talking drums provided his music with its uniquely percolating drive. KSA was returning with a smaller, streamlined band this tour but the shows are now cancelled.
The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events said Tuesday that Ade would be replaced by Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars in the July 6 Downtown Sound performance at Millennium Park.
