I remember the exact momentI first heard Afrobeat. It was in 1974 in Kano, Nigeria, at an outdoor cafe', sitting drinking beer with a couple of Nigerian friends. Over the speaker system came a sound...funky, driving, kind of ominous, edgy, with jazzy keyboard and horn solos and a stentorian male voice declaiming: "open...open and close." It was unlike any African music I had heard previously. I asked my friends who it was; they chuckled and said "that's Fela!" I describe all this in detail in the chapter on Fela in my book Great Spirits: Portraits Of Life-Changing World Music Artists. I had the pleasure of witnessing Fela and Afrika 70 at the original Shrine in Lagos and also later in Kano. Like James Brown in America, Fela created and dominated an entire genre of music. There were other artists and bands who played Afrobeat or incorporated elements of Afrobeat into the music. Sunny Ade injected Afrobeat elements into juju music, for instance. But no other artist could really match the scope, power or sheer magnificence of Fela's Afrobeat. And that held true for his whole life.
After Fela's passing in 1997, a curious thing happened. Despite Fela's dominance of Afrobeat, the style did not die with him. On the contrary it began to spread around the world as never before. As so often is the case, when a legendary musician dies, attention gets paid his or her music. Fela's albums were re-issued and celebrated. Afrobeat bands formed in Nigeria, Europe and Ameerica. One of the best and most prominent of these was/is Antibalas, founded in Brooklyn not long after Fela's passing by Martin Perna and other musicians generally in the circle of funk revivalists involved with Desco Records, which evolved into Daptone Records. I think one of the reasons Antibalas was so vital was because the musicians in the group were not slavish in their recreation of Afrobeat. Though they could--and sometimes did--play a Fela tune pretty much as he arranged it, they most often incorporated elements of Afro-Cuban music (a logical connection), jazz, funk and dub into original Afrobeat compositions. They had a clear political pespective of their own also. They inspired more bands in America and of course Fela's son Femi, and later his son Seun were touring widely, spreading the Afrobeat flame, and recording. Still later came the Broadway hit Fela!, which spawned a touring company that performed in many parts of the world, including Nigiera. In a way, Fela's passing freed up the genre to become more elastic, less doctrinaire. And this process continues today. I put together a compilation in the 2000's--"Afrobeat No Go Die"-- and was involved in releasing another-- "Nu Afrobeat Revolution"--to document a number of artists working permutations of Afrobeat.
But all this does raise a question. How far can Afrobeat be stretched before it ceases to be Afrobeat? Fela himself had very definite ideas about the structure of the music compositionally and arrangement-wize. I think he would take a dim view of many of the more experimental Afrobeat efforrts that have come after his death. But then Fela did not have a particularly flexible mentality. When Celluloid had Bill Laswell re-mix Fela's "Army Arrangement" recording when Fela was in prison, Fela was outraged; he stated: "being re-mixed by Bill Laswell was worse than being in prison."
The limits of Afrobeat were tested last week by an interesting concert held outdoors at in the plaza at Lincoln Center. Headlined by Fela's original drummer, the legendary Tony Allen, teh program went out of its way to present different, even experimental, takes on Afrobeat. For instance, the concert opened with the wide-ranging string quartet The Kronos Quartet; they played a version of "Sorrow Tears & Blood" , plucking and tapping their strings percussively, a kind of chamber Afrobeat. It was interesting, though I wouldn't say compelling. The rest of the performers were quite eclectic. The house band for the occasion was called Superhuman Happiness and was made up of members of Antibalas, Rubblebucket, members of the alternative rock group tUnEyArDs, and musicians who normally back singer-songerwriter Iron and Wine (the last two particurly strange choices). They tended to play what I would call impressionistic Afrobeat. At one point rapper M1 delivered a rap about Trayvon Martin over a backing that was more hip-hop than Afrobeat and vocalists Baloji and Sinkane (from Sudan) sang. Tony Allen took things in a more grounded direction as he led Superhuman Happiness on his 70's composition African Disco Beat. Of course, Allen has since leaving Fela not confined himself to pure Afrobeat, having collaborated with jazz musicians, electronica producers and even rock musicians. Though most of the music at the concert was somewhat fresh, I can't say any one piece came across as powerful or especially moving. Such is the risk of experiments.
I think it is fair to say that Afrobeat is more elastic than Fela conceived of it and it would be a bit ridiculous to think that it could only be presented and played as Fela performed it. But I do think there needs to be an essence in order to fall within the genre. And that essence for me is the groove, the pulse, which is highly identifiable, rooted especially in Yoruba rhythms but shaped by funk and the Caribbean element of highlife. Some would say that Fela's characteristic horn arrangements are also essential elements of Afrobeat, along with the political content and jazz solos. I find that too limiting. Give me the pulse and explore from there; just don't lose the pulse! The most successful Afrobeat fusions will come from those who truly understand the essence of the music but are free enough to approach it from a fresh perspective. I've heard it happen hear and there....author Michael Veal, who wrote the definitive biography of Fela, had a group that approached Afrobeat from an almost free-jazz perspective, sometimes quite successfully. I've heard recordings here and there by other African musicians or even some Colombian musicians who have integrated Afrobeat into their own playing. And of course Femi himself has deliberately attempted to create his own variety of the music. We have Fela's fantastic recordings to listen to anytime. But it is wonderful that Afrobeat continues as a living, breathing, evolving genre 15 years after his passing!
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