anyone into AFROBEAT?
 

i saw a band in london ontario a few years back called Antibalas. it was some of the grooviest and sexiest sh*t i've ever heard in my LIFE! so i'm wondering if any of you have any recommendations for me or anyone else who likes to shake their as* to that african rhythm!

Fela Kuti is the man and his son Femi isn't bad either although he incorporates a lot more modern Western themes into his music and not always to great effect.

Fela is definitely the man, I would suggest "He Miss Road" or "Expensive Sh*t" as good places to start

Before Antibalas got their name together, some future members put out a very nice record as The Daktaris which is extremely cool

In a slightly different dimension there's King Sunny Ade whose record Juju Music is very nice

or you could check out voodoofunk.blogspot.com and dig any of the posts with mp3s in them

and then there's Orchestre Polyrhythm (sp?) from 1970s Benin who there's a few collections out and I've been enjoying a lot this year

WICKED! i found fela earlier today and downloaded it, and when i sat down and threw it in my itunes it just so happens that 'expensive sh*t' is exactly what i put on. love it. it just ended. what i like about afrobeat is that it keeps something peddling for everyone to groove over... remaining consistent throughout the whole thing. and this is something i really REALLY appreciate as a drummer... cuz the drummer can't go too crazy or he falls of the train right? he's gotta keep it moooovin'!

and MAN! those HORNS!!! they give me a BON3R!!!!!!!!

i'll work on finding that other stuff tonight.

thank a million guys!

... and he SO keeps it movin - but playin SO MANY different little things AT ONCE!!

so it's not busy like you think of western rock drumming sometimes being too busy, but there is a lot going on in that steadiness

That drummer's name is TONY ALLEN and he is wonderful ... look him up if you want, he's got some of his own records also

:laughing:

i too have been exploring afro beat recently thanks to my friend russ who turned me on to fela,....its infectious

i've also been listening to alot of area f

i backpacked Montreal a year ago and saw these dudes live downtown
hadn't heard of 'em before seeing them, but was pointed their way by a french Canadian cool cat i met at a pub one night before (we actually went on to see the show together!)

they put on a real fun show...very groovy, high energy, really got you pumped up/feelin' it - exactly what you'd want out of an afrobeat show

Papa Groove
1. One Way Departure
YouTube - Belle et Bum - Papa Groove - One Way Departure
2. East Road
YouTube - Belle et Bum - Papa Groove - East Road

It looks like we all agree about Fela Kuti and I can`t think of anyone who beats him either. Antibalas come close - in fact to me they sometimes sound just like FK.

Someone who has a rather different sound is "the Lion of Cameroon", Manu Dibango who put the Afro back into Afro-American Funk with his influential `72 hit, Soul Makossa. His great strength is in his robust sax lines, although he has a softer side too. Some tracks may sound a bit dated because of the over-slick production; in fact on songs like Sun Explosion it sounds like the background singers have just come in from recording Up,up and away with Johnny Mann! Nevertheless, tracks like Abele Dance and Big Blow pack quite a punch.

Thanks for posting Papa Groove - they must`ve been great to see live !

I just joined this board after reading this thread. It's unfortunate that this conversation is just over three years old now, but I figured I'd add what I've found:

Fela is *the dude* He invented Afrobeat. Femi is really good too. But Seun Kuti is keeping Egypt 80 going and I really like his ****. He's clearly his father's son, but the records have a crispness to them that I really enjoy.

NOMO is a band I just stumbled across tonight. They're white kids from Montreal or something and they take the Afrobeat template, strip away the political aspect, and focus on the groove. So much so that I almost couldn't stay sitting. Tasteful solos, extremely tight band. I don't know about anyone else, but I can't stand over indulgent solos.

These next suggestions aren't exactly Afrobeat, but things that have Afro-Cuban rhythms in them.

Chico Mann just put out a record called Analog Drift that is essentially electronic Afrobeat. It's really smart. If he didn't embrace Beat so much, Pitchfork would probably have a lot more to say about him. He uses the in-vogue chintzy 80s casio sounds, so it gives his music this kind of weird sheen, but with all the grooves. Check out the song Ya Yo Se.

I really like Forro in the Dark. They're from Brazil. Just check them out. I can't really explain them other than saying their music is extremely rhythm heavy.

The Budos Band take horn arrangements from Funk, Soul, and Afrobeat, and create these imposingly epic hip-hop songs with that blend. They're on Antibalas' record label. (Which bears to mention: EVERYTHING ON DAPTONE RECORDS IS REALLY GOOD.)

Maybe give Novos Baianos a shot. They were/are a psychedelic pop/tropicalia band from Brazil. Their album Acabou Chorare is something I find myself listening to frequently.

Also, in the realm of sample music, Bonobo's third LP Black Sands takes a lot of Southern Hemisphere rhythms. He creates a type of downtempo or trip-hop that owes a lot to latin music, but in a very, very intelligently applied way.