
Abdul Tee-Jay is an African guitarist hailing from Sierra Leone although his parents and hence his full name, Tejan-Jalloh, come from Fouta Jalloh in Guinea. At a very young age Abdul learnt to play guitar. At that time there was music coming into the port of Freetown from many different regions such as soukous and high-life, traditional and popular as well as local musicians: Abdul was influenced by all of these sounds and joined local bands. He grew up in an academic environment and in 1974 he went to Virginia USA to study. While there he took the opportunities to learn more guitar, use better instruments, joined a band called Spice and learnt to play the dulcimer.
In 1979 Abdul came to Britain to work in banking but met other musicians and started to play music again. In the beginning, he played in several reggae bands. Later, he and some other Sierra Leonians and Ghanaians formed the band African Connexion. The group released 2 EPs with Abdul for Oval Records, but before the 3rd EP was released he left the group because he no longer felt comfortable with the musical direction of the band.
(read more on Afric-Original)
Links to Peel[]
Peel played some tracks from the singer along with the group African Connexion on his radio programmes between the 80's and 90's. However, by the time of the 00's, the guitarist music was largely forgotten by Peel on his BBC Radio One shows, although he did play a track from the artist on his 17 October 2002 (Radio Eins) show.
Shows Played[]
- Abdul Tee-Jay
- 12 December 1983: Agooda Medley (12") B.A.D. Productions
- 07 January 1984 (BFBS): Agooda Medley (12") B.A.D. Productions
- 27 February 1984: C'est La Danse (K Wanza Kwanza) (12" - Midnight Pressure) Oval
- 03 March 1984 (BFBS): C'est La Danse (K Wanza Kwanza) (12" EP - Midnight Pressure) Oval
- 03 April 1984: C'est La Danse (Kwanza Kwanza) (12" - African Connexion) Celluloid
- 21 May 1984: C'est La Danse (Kwanza Kwanza) (12" - African Connexion) Celluloid
- 25 November 1984 (BFBS): Dancing On The Sidewalk (12") Oval
- 03 December 1984: Moziki (EP - Midnight Pressure) Oval
- 12 December 1984: Dancing On The Sidewalk (12") Oval
- 08 August 1989: Ro-Manké (LP - Kanka Kuru) Rogue
- 09 August 1989: A Milleh Teteh (album - Kanka Kuru) Rogue
- 17 August 1989: A Milleh Teteh (LP - Kanka Kuru) Rogue
- 29 August 1989: Kamilay (CD/LP/MC – Kanka Kuru) Rogue
- 14 September 1989: Kamilay (album - Kanka Kuru) Rogue
- 03 January 1990: A Milleh Teteh (album - Kanka Kuru) Rogue
- 30 October 1992: Ansu (LP – Fire Dombolo) Rogue
- 01 November 1992 (BFBS): Ansu (CD - Fire Dombolo) Rogue
- 06 November 1992: Fire Dombolo (album - Fire Dombolo) Rogue
- 27 November 1992: 'Wakile (CD-Fire)' (Dombolo)
- 17 October 2002 (Radio Eins): Man Go Bondo (album - Rokoto Make Me Dance-Dance) The Weekend Beatnik