THE WEST AFRICAN AFRO-FUNK REVIVAL
The Seventies was quite a decade for music; it gave rise to the classic reggae sound in Jamaica, the progressive funk scene in the States and the punk rock scene in the UK; you could probably throw in the rise of disco and the beginning of rap. Less well recognized but just as vital was the vibrant Afro-pop scene in West Africa during that decade. There Fela created Afrobeat, Sunny Ade and Ebenezer Obey brought juju music to a height, Senegalese bands created the mbalax style, Malian groups such as Les Ambassadeurs broke new ground and Ghanian groups such as Osibisa, Bunzu Soundz and a host of others took highlife in new directions. But beyond these macro entities were hundreds of lesser groups who were combining elements of funk, rock and myriad combinations of all the African styles mentioned above plus traditional melodies and rhythms. Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Bob Marley, The Meters, Mandrill, War, Kool & The Gang—all of these were being heard and absorbed by young African musicians who performed in clubs. Of course this was happening in many parts of Africa but it was in West Africa that the most ground-breaking and fertile fusions were happening. By the mid-80’s, for a variety of reasons, much of that scene had died out or had been superseded by other styles, especially as cheap technology made it possible to make music without maintaining a band—no small advantage in countries were musicians had few resources (often they didn’t even own their own instruments; often the bandleader, a hotel owner or manager would own the instruments!). Many of these lesser-known groups were little heard outside West Africa or outside the expatriate communities of their countrymen. I had the pleasure of playing in one of these bands—Bongos & The Groovies—and, typically, none of their many albums were released outside Africa.
But a little over a decade ago wondrous things began happening. First came the Afrobeat revival. Ironically it was the passing of Afrobeat’s creator—Fela Anikulapo-Kuti –that seemed to spur the rise of Afrobeat bands in the United States, Europe and in Nigeria. Some of these bands were very good, others were lackluster imitations. In the United States the best of Afrobeat bands was Antibalas who, through their wide-spread touring, introduced Afrobeat to the jamband world and spread the Afrobeat gospel.
The other important development was the re-issuing (or more properly, issuing, since many of the recordings had never been released previously outside Africa) of collections of vintage Afro-pop recordings by independent labels such as Strut, Soundway, and Analog Africa. The people behind these labels were relentless collectors of music from the 70’s and amassed caches of great vinyl ‘45’s and LP’s –-a crucial step since the master tapes for many of these recordings had been lost or destroyed. The bands and singers featured on these recordings—some of whom only had one or two singles released during their heyday—were in many case the artists who had churned out the varied Afropop sounds in bars and clubs across West Africa. I must distinguish between Afropop or Afrofunk and Afrobeat. Afrobeat was definted by Fela’s schema—the chattering guitars, the big horn arrangements, the declaimed vocals and the particular rhythm patterns he utilized. Sometimes the Afrofunk bands played Afrobeat numbers but more often they were creating their own meld of Afro rhythms, funk and rock. After the ground-breaking Afrofunk compilations met with some success, the labels that issued them began releasing collections by individual artists—bands such as Orchestra Poly-Rhythmo de Contonou from Benin (Dahomey), The Funkees (from Nigeria) and Orchestra Baobab from Senegal, as well as artists such as Ebo Taylor. In some cases—such as Orchestra Polyrhythmo de Contonou, and Ebo Taylor—the artists began recording and perforing again, releasing excellent new recordings. Meanwhile Antibalas took things to another level by being the house band for the hit Broadway play “Fela”, which ended up touring the world.
As a result, we’re living in a kind of second “golden age” of Afro-funk, with the music more widely available than ever before and many artists both veteran and new playing the music. Evidence of this if found in three great new releases-- a compilation of vintage recordings by Nigeria’s Tunji Oyelana, a recording by KonKoma, a new UK group of mostly veterans of the 70’s West African scene and a new album by Antibalas.
I’ve been waiting a long time for someone to release Tunji Oyelana’s recordings. Until now, there had never been a Tunji Oyelana CD available; the only evidence of his music were scattered tracks on a few compilations. Partly this was no doubt due to the fact that Tunji Oyelana wasn’t among the most popular musicians of his era; but it was also partly due to the unique—somewhat esoteric-- niche he occupied. You see, Tunji was—and I believe is—a college professor, as well as an actor, dramatist, and, of course, musician. He approached music-making from a different vantage point and though his musical artistry clearly was important to him it was not his main career. The sound of his music varied quite a bit, often quite sparse and grounded in folklore and at other times virtually Afrobeat. And not all of it is great. But Soundway has done a magnificent job in releasing a two-cd compilation of his work from 1966-1979, cherry-picking the most groovalicious track. As evidenced by one of his most popular tracks—“Ifa”—Tunji Oyelana sounded like no one else:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWAhmyIUj70
Meanwhile, KonKoma was intentionally formed by saxophonist Max Grunhard and producer Ben Lamdin around two veteran Ghanian musicians—Alfred Bannerman and Emmanuel Rentzos. Bannerman had been in the 70’s Afro-rock band Boombaya and had been active on the fertile London African music scene for a couple of decades at least. Rentzos had played with Bannerman in the early 70’s Ghanian outfit Santrofis. Both had also played with such artists as Bobby Womack, Osibisa, Hugh Masakela and Peter Green. The band’s debut album, titled simply “KonKoma”, is a beautifully recorded album sounds entirely fresh—ranging across a number of Afropop styles but never trying to simply re-create past glories. As such it is highly enjoyable and musically satisfying. Here’s one of the strongest cuts from the album, titled simply “Handkerchief”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHgmsl9Wj50
Finally there was Antibalas. Formed in 1998 in New York City by saxophonist Martin Perna, the band had an incestuous relationship with the Daptone label/ collective of musicians who were spearheading a funk/soul revival. Some of the same musicians who played on Daptones funk recordings also played in Antibalas. The band’s earliest recordings were necessarily derivative but never completely so. For one thing there was always a Latin component in their musical consciousness and often in their playing. They understood the connections between Afrobeat, Afro-Cuban and other Caribbean styles and African –American funk and played with a sensibility that drew on all of these. This enabled them to avoid being simply Fela imitators. When I saw them in the early 2000’s backing former Egypt 80 keyboardist Dele Sosimi, it was the most satisfying evening of Afrobeat I had seen since I had been in Nigeria in the Seventies, which is saying a lot since I had seen a number of Fela’s 1980’s and early 90’s shows in the States. With the release of their fifth album, titled simply “Antibalas”, they have delivered their definitive statement, in no small measure because their lead vocalist Abraham Amayo has truly come into his own. The lead cut, “Dirty Money”, is a commentary on the financial shenanigans of Wall Street folk during the past few years—in the best tradition of Fela’s political broadsides:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMXlEqlnAIg
So there you have it. And these 3 CD’s are simply the latest—and among the best—of the new golden age of West African Afro-funk. A new generation of musicians will have the opportunity to hear this music first hand and hopefully carry on the work of these musicians into the next generation.
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