Keeping the Afrobeat

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/06/2002 (8737 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TO West African music, Fela Kuti was Elvis, The Beatles and Bob Dylan all wrapped up into one ultra-powerful cult of musical personality.

The late, great Nigerian created afrobeat, an irresistible hybrid of ’60s funk, horn-driven R&B, polyrhythmic drumming and the call-and-response vocals of traditional Yoruba music.

By the time Fela died of AIDS-related illnesses in 1997, afrobeat had influenced legions of worldbeat, rock and funk musicians on both sides of the Atlantic. But afrobeat didn’t catch fire in North America like reggae, ska or salsa, to name a few other cross-cultural genres that originated in Africa.

That’s beginning to change. First, Fela’s son Femi Kuti has started to make waves with a slicker, urbanized version of his father’s afrobeat, collaborating with rappers such as Mos Def and Common.

And more unexpectedly, an American band has emerged to become the standard torch-bearer for traditional afrobeat.

The group is Antibalas, the most exciting act slated to play next week’s Jazz Winnipeg Festival. The 14-piece ensemble out of New York City sticks so closely to Fela’s original vision, it almost sounds like a tribute act.

“We’ve taken a lot of criticism for being too faithful to the formula of Fela Kuti, but it doesn’t matter,” says drummer and bandleader Phil Ballman, speaking over the phone from Brooklyn.

“The back and forth between Africa and America has been going on for hundreds of years. Everyone thinks it’s this weird, one-way thing: Slaves came out of Africa and brought their stuff.

“But it’s much more complicated than that. The circle goes around and around and around.”

Working backwards, the path goes something like this: Brooklyn’s Antibalas references the sound of Nigeria’s Fela Kuti, who in turn was heavily influenced by James Brown and Sly & The Family Stone during an extended American visit during the ’70s. Those seminal funk artists were influenced by rock and blues, which of course have roots back in Africa.

Since its formation in 1998, Antibalas has released two albums — Liberation Afrobeat Vol. One and the more recent and focused Talkatif. They’re both out on Ninja Tune, a record label better known for DJs and electronic knob-twiddlers.

“We play this conservative, traditionalist version of afrobeat, so it’s helpful for us to have this cross-reference with electronic music,” explains Ballman. “I like to say we’re the band all the other artists on the label would sample, if they found our record in a stack.”

Antibalas play the Pyramid Cabaret on Wednesday, June 19 as part of the Jazz Winnipeg Festival’s New Groove Series. Admission to the 9:30 p.m. show is $20.

The other four New Groove headliners are strong, but they’ve all been here before. Fusion band Metalwood plays the Pyramid on Tuesday, U.K. groove outfit The Herbaliser returns one week from today, Montreal funk band Bullfrog (featuring turntablist Kid Koala) performs Friday, June 21 and Toronto vocalist Ivana Santilli rounds out the series on Saturday, June 22.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca