Kele-le EP: Afrobeat soundtrack to the summer and Red Hot Org's Latest Collaboration

Today is the day! The highly anticipated Kele-le EP project came out today and here’s why the EP is more than a rich and dynamic afrobeat offering:

The collaborative EP comes to raise money and awareness for the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Nigeria, while simultaneously celebrating music, women, and culture. The project is a collaboration that was initially announced in 2020 between Red Hot Org and five Nigerian artists, the EP demonstrates the pioneering work of these women in creating afrobeat and afro-centric music throughout the past two years.

Red Hot Org is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture, by promoting public health and diversity through equal access to care.

One million women are living with HIV/AIDS. The HIV/AIDS crisis in Nigeria disproportionally affects women more than men: women between the ages of 15-49 are twice as likely to be living with HIV than men, with 30–39-year-old women being the demographic with the highest HIV prevalence. Yet nearly half of the women living with HIV/AIDS are being treated with viral suppression.

Kele-le aims to help provide resources to the infrastructures of change tackling this crisis, and the essential work that organisations are doing on the ground. All funds raised by the EP will be matched by Red Hot Org and distributed to organisations such as Wellbeing Foundation Africa, RAISE Foundation, Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation, Freehearts Africa Reachout Foundation, and the Social Welfare Network Initiative.

Leigh Blake and John Carlin started the charity organisation in 1989 as New York artists and intellectuals were devastated by the AIDS epidemic. Red Hot initially began as a community project that resulted in Red Hot + Blue: a multimedia project combining music, videos, fashion, art, and design in a tribute to the American songwriter Cole Porter. Red Hot + Blue sold over one million copies worldwide, raising millions of dollars for AIDS charities. The charity's success led to a series of albums and videos including diverse musical styles such as Duke Ellington, Fela Kuti and the Grateful Dead.

Over its 25-year Red Hot has been recognised by Rolling Stone, the New York Times, Pitchfork, and Billboard. The organisation has worked with Bon Iver, Chance the Rapper, Wu-Tang Clan, Nirvana, U2, Childish Gambino and Madonna - donating millions of dollars to health organisations across the globe in the process. Kele-le is the next project for Red Hot in their series of 20 compilation projects since 1990 and one with as much importance as the original Red Hot + Blue.

‘Kele-le’ is taken from the word ‘kele’ which means girlfriend in Nigerian pidgin, hence is the perfect epithet for the 4-track EP which is devoted to female artists. Meanwhile ‘kelele’ means unignorable sound in Swahili, which demonstrates the impact of afrobeat music as an influence globally and highlights the contributions of these women grounding the genre.

The 4-track EP will be the first of several collaborative EPs from Red Hot Org, showcasing new wave afrobeat and afro-centric music coming from exciting female artists in Nigeria. The collaboration aims to empower young female artists to lead the conversation about women’s health rights in Africa.

Tomi Owo entices listeners with the first track on the EP, the stripped back ‘Go On Woman’, which composes eclectic, rich vocals and life-affirming lyrics to inspire women globally. Tomi Owo is a Lagos based artist who demonstrates her authentic urban soul, and afro-inspired pop fusion through her contribution to Kele-le.

The second track offers a collaboration between Mz Kiss featuring OSHUN. Mz Kiss ignites Kele-le with ‘You Look Good’, which will summon armies to dancefloors internationally. Her iconic afrobeat hit is only solidified through OSHUN’s afro-futuristic and hip-soul contributions to the track. The female duo (also known as Niambi Sala and Thandiwe) pay homage to the Great Mother (the west African deity Oshun) through their alias. They have been musically accredited for exalting the divine feminine through their musical expression. OSHUN are known for their hip-hop and soul to spirit style which characteristically demonstrates digital and acoustic sounds of heavy drums and bass, with more harmonic textures. The EP’s second track does not disappoint.

Lady Donli exercises her neo-soul passion in the third track ‘Kauna’ which reflects on love and liberation. Her recognisable R&B, jazz, hip-hop, and afro-beat influence explode onto Kele-le, adding to the EPs sound and message to women internationally.