Earth, Wind & Fire - The Instrumentals Playlist

Written By Kensedeobong Okosun

One of Earth, Wind & Fire’s selling points was their sophisticated instrumentation with the affluent orchestration, exquisite horns, bass guitar and Kalimba sections. It formed a part of their musical identity and signature. This element was a permanent fixture from the 1970s till 1983, when it was stripped and replaced with electrified, digitalized Synth and Keyboard as a reflection of the epoch’s innovation, but a diminishment of their brand.

As a lover of instrumentals, this playlist is curated to centre the powerful instrumental delivery of the elements. Enjoy!

  1. “Power” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZZDgsAHYSg‍ ‍Last Days and Time (1972).

  2. “Zanzibar” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EjN62dqby8‍ Head to the Sky (1973).

  3. “Drum Song” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5doRGU5N3sOpen Our Eyes (1974).

  4. “Happy Feelin’” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5UXwMNuq1A‍ ‍That’s the Way of the World (1975).

  5. “Sun Goddess” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcQ1vUejD7M‍ ‍Gratitude (1975).

  6. “Africano” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvBDPZ3R6Rw‍ ‍That’s the Way of the World (1975).

  7. “New World Symphony” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smCG_RHM8X8‍ ‍Gratitude (1975).

  8. “Biyo” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBfaUx79d8g‍ ‍Spirit (1976).

  9. “Runnin’” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ro8K8qDsYTs‍ ‍All’ n All (1977).

  10. “Rock That” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dINbT683r9o‍ ‍I Am (1979).

  11. “Faces” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifmVski9fkI‍ ‍Faces (1980).

  12. “Liberation” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGvmaUntaug‍ ‍Illumination (2005).

  13. “Splashes” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUKDXNJxmsY‍ ‍Now, Then & Forever (2013).

Kensedeobong Okosun

Kensedeobong Okosun is a music enthusiast, music researcher, music journalist with expertise in music selection & planning, vocalist and an author. Her academic article “Sisterhood and Soul Music as expressions of Black Power” is featured in the edited volume, Black Power in Hemispheric Perspective (Raussert & Steinitz, eds, 2022). She has reviewed Dorothea Gail’s Weird American Music for the Forum for Interamerican Research (fiar, 2019). Her work has appeared on Nigeria’s Sun News Online and The Nigerian Observer.

Kensedeobong’s blog highlights music’s interconnectivity with society and comprises personal music experiences, researched information, concept playlists for multiple themes, etc.

A hard-core 90s R&B fan, she utilises the vehicle of memory, to position long forgotten music of yesteryears on the front-burner.

She is persuaded that music is a core conduit of collective harmony, equanimity, vitality and healing. And as such requires criticality in the filtration process, in order to disseminate meaning. Her blog promotes music equality and diversity.

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Earth, Wind & Fire - The Message/Conscious Songs Playlist