New independent act AL DIAMOND AND ROBBY talk about their CD single.

Al Diamond

A catchy fusion of Nigerian jazz funk and Western pop is currently gleaning a little airplay. "Peace To The World" is the first release - a CD single - for AL DIAMOND AND ROBBY. This Surrey-based duo makes their plea for racial harmony from very different backgrounds. Singer Al's full name is Alfred Arenyeka-Diamond and he was born in Nigeria. His first musical experiments were, by economic necessity, rather crude.

"I used to make my own guitars out of wood and milk cans," Al remembers. "In 1973 I bought my first guitar when I was 13. I got hooked on bass and that's my main instrument. I started writing my own songs and appearing in public sometime in 1983-4, supporting other bands. You have membership clubs and activities like at Christmas where you've got other bands playing and a couple of friends of mine would go and do their song ROBBY and somebody else's song, most of the time because we didn't have time to rehearse and practise our own. In the process people thought my material was basically good enough for me to release commercially. I got a lot of encouragement from people for my homemade demos and I got a contact with a company who released an album in 1986. That was recorded and mixed here in England. It was called 'Call Me Up'."

Al's album gained him radio and TV exposure in Nigeria but stardom never quite occurred. Working in Britain he progressed in retail management, but never quite shook off the musical bug. "Music is such a powerful thing," he muses. Two and a half years ago Al met Robert Shrigley who in addition to being a professional clay modeller was a talented singer/songwriter and guitarist. In '91 Robby had recorded a single himself but as his friendship with Al grew so did an idea to record something together. Explains Robby, "We helped each other on our individual musical projects until we found out that most of our conversations centred around racial harmony and anti-racism. So, in a sense, it was natural that our first single together should be on the theme of race - reminding the world that love has no colour."

It was a songwriting course given by Ian Traynar of the CMA which was pivotal in Robby's creative development. "He taught me a lot. He encouraged us to write more cryptic lyrics, and to write songs that non-Christians as well as believers can relate to."

Currently working in Germany, Robby is looking forward to February and April and the next stage of his musical adventure - going with Al Diamond to Nigeria to promote the single. "Al's old album is still played on some of the radio stations out in Nigeria," explains Robby. "It's going to be great experiencing the whole culture of Africa."

Gigs together have already started. Said Al, "We've done one already, at Robby's church, Millmead Baptist. And we did a gig at a prison where 'Peace To The World' went down really well."

So that's it. Will Al and Robby's venture into Joe's Garage (that's a studio, not a building for someone's car) pay off for them? Is the world ready for a message of peace where pop-dance meet the Burundi Boys? Watch this space. - Marie-Louise Flint