Tony Alabi (Firefly)

Tony Alabi, host of KBOO radio program "Africa O-Ye" (known on the air as Firefly) died on  January 24, 2011 of a stroke. Tony had been a KBOO volunteer and programmer for over fifteen years. Firefly came from Nigeria, his father is Yoruba and his mother Ibo. 

In the late 1990s, KbOO was looking for volunteers for music programs from around the world, such as Africa, Indonesia, India, Hawaii, and Korea. Tony came with a proposal for an African program, and started it in 1998.

He also was a music promoter in Portland, and brought in many African and reggae bands, and was a participant in the Homowa African Music Festival.

His nickname Firely originates from a childhood experience there: following an uncle's death Tony saw a shooting star and imagined it as a farwell from the departed. Since then he was drawn to the firefly for its abilty to generate its own light and for its non-agressiveness.

Tony was drawn to the transformatonal power of music, transcending physical, temporal and cultural barriers.