The Afrobeat Diaries ... by allaboutjazz.com (Pt.19)

by Chris May, allaboutjazz.com

---

Part 19 - Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band: Live

Washington, DC-based Chopteeth isn't exactly an Afrobeat band, not all of the time anyway. Fela Kuti pieces figure in its set list, but so do "belle epoque" tunes from Guinea's Le Simandou De Beyla, Senegal's Orchestra Baobab, Congo's Tabu Ley Rochereau and other African stars of the period. Chopteeth is best described as a post-independence, African music repertory orchestra, in conception not unlike trumpeter Wynton Marsalis's Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra—the difference being that it plays music not native to most of its members' own culture.

And does it with flair and conviction. The band debuted on disc with Chopteeth (Grigri Discs, 2008). The new album captures it live in three DC clubs, with excellent sound and not too much crowd noise, and is even more enjoyable than the debut.

There are three Afrobeat covers: Fela Kuti's "J.J.D." from J.J.D. Johnny Just Drop (Afrodisia, 1977) and "Question Jam Answer" from Music Of Fela: Roforofo Fight (Jofabro, 1972), and Femi Kuti's "Traitors Of Africa" from Fight To Win (Fontana, 2001). Trumpeter Cheryl Terwilliger's horn charts stick close to the originals and are punched out with enthusiasm; the vocals on both Fela tunes are simple calls-and-responses, again sticking close to the originals (though ringing the occasional gender exchange); and the solos—from trombonist Craig Considine, trumpeter Justine Miller, saxophonists Trevor Specht and Mark Gilbert, guitarist Michael Shereikis, and keyboardist Jon Hoffschneider—are gutsy and in the groove.

The rest of the album is just as much fun. Baobab's "Jiin Ma Jiin Ma" and Beyla's "Festival" capture the lilting savannah swing of both outfits, with Shereikis and fellow guitarist Victor Crisen creating spirited pastiches of their signature guitarists. Nigerian saxophonist Peter King's "Freedom Dance" features more of Considine's gritty trombone, and Duke Ellington's "exotic" composition "Didjeridoo" has outstanding solos from Specht, on baritone, and Brian Simms, on greasy organ.

Only one track fails to convince: Rochereau's "Gagne Perdu" is let down by the vocals. But Rochereau, "the Voice of Lightness," is, anyway, a well nigh impossible act to follow.

The other nine tracks are certified winners.

The Afrobeat Diaries ... by allaboutjazz.com (Pt.XVIII)

by Chris May, allaboutjazz.com

---

Part 18 - Seun Kuti talks about From Africa With Fury: Rise

Seun Kuti's From Africa With Fury: Rise, the follow-up to the ferocious Many Things (Tot Au Tard, 2008), is under starter's orders—and Afrobeat Diaries' sneak preview attests that it's a monster, a stone delight of epic proportions.

Produced by Brian Eno with John Reynolds and Kuti, with additional input from dub wizard Godwin Logie, the new album features Fela Kuti's son once more fronting Egypt 80 under the leadership of veteran saxophonist Lekan Animashaun, its founding bandleader, whose time with Fela stretched back to the pioneering years of Afrika 70 and, before that, Koola Lobitos in the mid 1960s.

From Africa With Fury: Rise was originally slated for release on Knitting Factory Records in June 2011, but may now be brought forward to April. Watch this space.

Meanwhile, here are some of Seun's thoughts about the album.....

"I wanted to do something completely different," says Seun. "Not different by trying to be American or European with my sound, just trying to make a very different album from my last album. My last album, it was my first time in control, I was not as confident as in saying what I wanted. This time, I said, 'Okay, I can be more confident in how I express myself, I can say what I want, be as complex as I want.'"

Seun is effusive about his co-producers. "Brian Eno is 'Brian Eno' for a reason. He has a great mind when it comes to music. He adds new dimensions to the sound. He showed me new ways of opening up the sound I'd never have thought of on my own. Not to downplay the work of John Reynolds, who is an incredible producer. I'm really glad I had them work on the album."

Despite the studio craftsmanship, Seun sees the recording process as a means to an end, a way of capturing his music for posterity. "Afrobeat has to go from stage to studio, not studio to stage," he says. "I don't believe in going into the studio to write songs. You create music in the world, outside, in the environment. You create music with nature, not in the studio. You go to the studio to record, that's it. Music created in the studio is commercial music, music that only wants to sell, that has nothing to do with the world.

"What inspires me is the time that I live in," Seun says. "Basically what is happening today in Africa are the same things that were happening 40 years ago, when my father was songwriting, but they're happening in different ways. So when I write my music, it's from the perspective of a 27-year-old man living in 2011, instead of a 30-year-old man living in the 1970s."

Despite this, Seun finds himself having to challenge many of the same injustices Fela fought back in the day, from exploitative multi-nationals to militaristic kleptocrats to the futile war on drugs. Among the album's unequivocal battle cries is "Rise," in which Seun encourages listeners to fight "the petroleum companies" that "use our oil to destroy our land," "the diamond companies" that "use our brothers as slaves for the stone," and "companies like Monsanto and Halliburton" which "use their food to make my people hungry." But where Fela's work often featured an explicit call to revolution, Seun's goal is subtler. He sees his role as that of an educator, speaking truth to power in order to provoke debate.

"In Africa today, most people are struggling in silence," Seun says. "The systematic oppression of the people has made them blinded to their reality. Everybody's just thinking about survival. Nobody wants to stand up for anything, everybody just wants to tow the line. So I'm trying to make people think about these things that they are forgetting. I want to inspire people to want things to change.

"Music has great impact on people's feelings," Seun concludes. "That's what music should be. Pop music today is all about me, me, me. Nobody is singing about we. But nothing can change if we don't look out for our brothers and sisters."

From Africa With Fury: Rise will make history. Afrobeat's DNA is intact.

From Benin: Orchestre Super Borgou de Parakou

Orchestra Super Borgou from Parakou was the most famous band in northern Benin during the 70s. Parakou is the largest city in eastern Benin and capital of the Borgou Department. Super Borgou recorded at least four EP's on Albarika Store label. This number 219 has apparently been recorded in 1973-74 since title "Dahomey Libéré" si already praising the Dahomey revolution of 1972.

orogod

---

As I have mentioned before in previous posts on music from Benin – or Dahomey as it was known back then – for such a small country, they sure did have a whole bunch of amazing singles from there. And if you have been following this site with any regularity, you probably are aware of the amazing releases on the Analog Africa label – especially the African Scream Contest compilation. Besides the incredible sounds contained on that disc, are the very informative interviews with all of the artists included – not to mention the great layout and design of the whole package. Orchestre Super Borgou de Parakou were included on that compilation, and Samy Ben Redjeb interviewed lead guitarist Moussa Mama Djima

“The history of modern music in Parakou is directly connected to my father. In the 40s my dad traveled to Accra to become a goldsmith but he returned to the Borgou with something even more important – modern music. In Ghana my father fell in love with Highlife music and studied it intensively after work. When he arrived here he formed the first modern musical group of Northern Benin; it was called L’Orchestre Sinpam. When the adolescents of the region heard about it, many of them came to Parakou asking if they could get a musical education. So we had people staying here for few weeks, sometimes months, getting lessons from my dad, who was known in the area as “Mousse President”. Many of them returned to their villages to form their own bands. That’s how modern music started here in the Borgou. My older sister was the first of our family to take advantage of those classes. She learned how to play the flute and later became one of the most popular singers in northern Benin. Her name was Leha Nato. She was a rebel and the first woman in Parakou to wear trousers, and despite being a Moslem, my father encouraged this attitude. He wanted to modernize the behavior and the thinking of the people.

I was born in 1947; I don’t know the exact date but it was on a Friday, which is why people know me as Moussa “Djima” (Djima is Arabic for Friday). I grew up just watching all those musical things happening around me and I could literally feel music entering my soul. In my early teens, electric guitars started to appear in Parakou, especially during festivities: weddings, circumcision rituals, etc. The first guitarist to perform at our house was Waidy, my brother discovered him in Togo. He would entertain the folks for the whole period of Ramadan, Waidy would sleep end eat at our house, end I watched him practice every day. Then we found another guitarist in Ouidah named Aaron; he was cheaper. We did that for few years until around ’62-63. Throughout those years I never took lessons; I just watched those guys play and tried to copy them on a guitar I built using fishing line and some other tools. In ’63 for some reason we didn’t manage to find a musician to entertain the town, and Ramadan was approaching rapidly. The elders were panicking. I told them not to worry – I would play. They wondered, “When did you learn to play?”, “I will play!” I replied. On the first evening of Ramadan it happened. I performed using just two strings. The next morning people came to see my father to ask him if I was a genius or possessed by evil spirits. Soon youngsters started knocking on my door asking for guitar lessons. They would stay here for two, sometimes three months. We would discuss the price for accommodation, food and beverage. Most of my students used to pay with rice or meat; the ones who had money would pay 50.000 CFA for one month and 100.000 CFA for three months. That’s how I used to earn my living. My first band at that time was named Alafia Jazz. We covered Rumba songs by Franco – that’s where I got the artist name Mama Franco from. I changed the name of the band to OK Jazz later in ’64. A few years later we started to develop our own musical identity based on traditional rhythms and songs from the region. At some point I started thinking, We are the best band from northern Benin singing in Dindi and Bareba, but we have a Congolese name – not good! I decided to choose a name that would show our origins, so we renamed the band Super Borgou de Parakou. Ousman Amoussa handled backing vocal and gon, Sidi Alassane was on the toumba and kit drum, Sidi Seidou played traditional percussions, Soulaima Karim sang lead, Mama Biogado played the bass, Menou Roch was our rhythm guitarist and I was on lead guitar and vocals. We started touring Niger in ’69. We found a job at a bar called Congolaise; the owner was a former Guinean military man who disagreed with the politics of Sékou Touré and had fled the country with his Vietnamese wife. They were a very sweet couple, so we dedicated this song to them. All the money we managed to earn working in Niamey was invested into better equipment, amps, guitars and other stuff. One day I remember entering a music shop to buy a flute back in ’71 when I heard someone playing an instrument I had never even seen before. The sound was absolutely gorgeous. I asked the seller what kind of instrument that is, to which he replied, “It’s an organ“. I asked for the price. He told me 140.000 CFA. We had saved 300.000 CFA, so I bought that organ on the spot. That was on a Monday; by Saturday I played the whole set using it. It took me a day or two to understand it, but it wasn’t really a problem. On the third or so day I used our new acquisition to compose a hugely successful Afrobeat song called Da Doga Bouyo Inin Be. The first musical competition we did was in ’72 in Cotonou. At that time the government would choose one band from each state. Poly-Rythmo, Echos du Zou and many others were all competing. We won and consequently were invited to the International Music Festival in Berlin, Germany“.

radiodiffusion

---


7inch one



Side A: Mondia Binin Bakpe (Composed By - Moussa Mama)
Side B: Wegne'nda M'banda (Composed By - Djida Issa)

Released in Cotonou, Benin mid 70s. Exact release date unknown. Recorded at EMI Studios in Lagos, Nigeria.

Side A: Tekke, vocals in Dindi
Side B: Soul, vocals in Djerma-Haoussa

---

7inch two



Side A: Dahomey libere
Side B: Idrissou Kere Nam Ya

---

7inch three

(no cover)

Side A: Ya Bara
Side B: Soun Binin Sara

Released in Cotonou, Benin mid to late 70s. Exact release date unknown. Recorded at EMI Studios in Lagos, Nigeria.

Side A: Pop
Side B: Pachanga

Fela Kuti’s Mentor – Sandra Smith Isadore

Sandra Smith Isadore

I remember reading somewhere where Fela said the two most important influences in his life were his mama and Sandra Smith. She opened his mind and exposed him to new ideas, thoughts and music. I know many of y’all have never heard of Ms. Sandra. So I thought I would present her to you all with a few of Sandra and Fela’s words from Michael Veal’s book on Fela. I understand that the women in Fela’s group hated her and made her time on the road with Fela difficult. I guess she was more than a piece of tail and that did not sit well with them.

It is fascinating that I had never heard of Fela before I began associating with Naijas. I know 99 percent of AAs have never heard of him either. It is only the Pan African types and folks like me who know him by way of associations. Enjoy!

Words of Fela concerning Malcolm X:

“This book, I couldn’t put it down: The Autobiography of Malcolm X….This man was talking about the history of Africa, talking about the white man….I never read a book like that before in my life…..I said, ‘This man is a man!’ I wanted to be like Malcolm X….I was so unhappy that this man was killed. Everything about Africa started coming back to me.”

Words of Fela about Sandra Smith Isadore – his mentor. Fela said the two most important people in his life that influenced him the most were his mama and Sandra.

His words:

“Sandra gave me the education I wanted to know. She was the one who opened my eyes….For the first time I heard things I’d never heard before about Africa! Sandra was my adviser. She talked to me about politics, history. She taught me what she knew and what she knew was enough for me to start on.”

During the course of their relationship, Smith introduced Fela to a number of political and musical ideas that profoundly reshaped both his worldview and his musical approach. Through her, Fela became familiar with the political ideas and rhetoric of African-American political and cultural figures such as the Black Panthers, Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmicheal), Angela David, Martin Luther King, Elijah Muhammad, Jessie Jackson, and Malcom X.

Sandra Smith:

“At that point in my life, I was an extremely passionate person—especially when it came to blackness, Africa, and Malcolm X, things like that. But the Fela that I met was not into Africa as a concept at all. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, that was something he was learning from me as we went along. It was like I was turning him on to Africa. Later he went to the other extreme, where everything about Africa was good, even the bad was good.”

Fela:

“It’s crazy; in the States people think the black power movement drew inspiration from Africa. All these Americans come over here looking for awareness. They don’t realize they’re the one who’ve got it over there. Why, we were even ashamed to go around in national dress until we saw pictures of blacks wearing dashikis on 125th street.”

Through Sandra, the --- now renamed “Nigeria 70” – was finally able to secure a regular gig at a Hollywood club called Citadel d’Haiti. Although unknown, the Nigeria 70 quickly became popular and built a steady audience. Meanwhile, the influence of new ideas from Fela’s intense discussions with Sandra – combined with his continued desire for success—forced him to reexamine a number of his own fundamental ideas and ultimately to formulate a new conceptual framework encompassing music, culture, and ideology.

Fela words to Sandra:

“One day I sat down at the piano in Sandra’s house. I said to Sandra: ‘Do you know what? I’ve just been fooling around. I haven’t been playing African music. So now I want to try to write African music… for the first time.’ …I went to play this new number. I didn’t know how the crowd would take the sound, you know. I just started. The club owner was behind the bar and he almost jumped over it. ….’ Fela, where did you get this ****ing tune from? Whaaaaat!’ The whole club started jumping and everybody started dancing. I knew then I’d found the thing, man. To me, it was the first African tune I’d written ’til then.”

The new song, which he titled “My Lady’s Frustration,” was a homage to Sandra and an acknowledgment of the strain his career troubles placed on their relationship. My Lady’s Frustration is neither Fela’s old highlife-jazz or pure rhythm-and –blues. Rather it is a hybrid style in which elements from both genres are arranged in a mutually complimentary way.

Originally published in "Fela: The Life and Times of a Musical Icon" by Micheal Veal

Article published by nigeriavillagesquare.com

The Afrobeat Diaries ... by allaboutjazz.com (Pt.XVII)

by Chris May, allaboutjazz.com

---

Part 17 - Dele Sosimi: Identity

Keyboard player and singer Dele Sosimi, a member of Fela Kuti's Egypt 80 from 1979-86 and Femi Kuti's Positive Force from 1986-94, returned to London, where he was born in 1963, in 1995. A decade and a half later, he leads three bands in the city: the acoustic Afrobeat Trio with bassist Femi Elias and drummer Kunle Olofinjana, the Gbedu septet (which adds horns to the trio's lineup), and the 10-15 piece Afrobeat Orchestra (more horns, guitars and backing vocalists). Since autumn 2010, Sosimi has acted as music consultant to the London production of the Broadway musical Fela!, of whose stage band he is a key member. Sosimi also organises London's bi-monthly Afrobeat Vibration all-nighters, which present the Orchestra, guest musicians and Afrobeat DJs, and works as an educator with the Afrobeat Foundation, which he founded.

Along with Afrika 70's drummer, the now Paris-based Tony Allen, with whom Sosimi has regularly performed, and Fela Kuti's sons Femi and Seun, Sosimi has worked tirelessly to nurture and develop Afrobeat. As the fliers for Afrobeat Vibration events have it: "Afrobeat is more than a music. It's a movement." This column officially declares Sosimi a Hero of Afrobeat.

Sosimi has made two albums with the Afrobeat Orchestra: Turbulent Times (Eko Records, 2002)—reviewed in Part 16 of Afrobeat Diaries—and Identity. Both are outstanding, rooted in Fela Kuti's original blueprint but not constrained by it, and both deserve far wider currency than they have enjoyed so far.

Turbulent Times was a mostly instrumental disc which featured Sosimi's jazz chops along with those of horn players Byron Wallen (trumpet, flugelhorn), Justin Thurgur (trombone), Linus Bewley (tenor saxophone) and Tony Kofi (baritone saxophone). On Identity, Sosimi's keyboards share the spotlight with his vocals, while the arrangements continue to enrich the basic Afrobeat paradigm with infusions of jazz, Latin, traces of highlife, and funk (given the prominence of Elias' serpentine electric bass, more Bootsy Collins' Rubber Band than James Brown's Famous Flames, an early inspiration of Fela Kuti and with whom, of course, Collins played before going solo). Sosimi's horn arrangements, intricate yet unfailingly visceral, which were such a delight on Turbulent Times, are here in all their glory again. Sosimi, Elias, Thurgur, guitarist Kunle Olasoju and saxophonists Eric Rohner (tenor) and Rob Leake (mainly baritone) are the chief soloists.

Sosimi's vocals, only briefly exercised on Turbulent Times, are a revelation, like Seun's possessing an enviable degree of Fela's authority; and the lyrics (most of the tunes were co-written with Elias) stay close to Afrobeat's tradition of social commentary, sung in a mixture of Yoruba, English and Broken English. Tempos and atmospheres are mostly up, and track playing times are mainly around 10 minutes. There are two instrumentals: the urgent "Ori Oka" and the pretty, Latinesque "I Don Waka" (at 4:48 the shortest track).

Following its run at London's National Theatre, Fela! moves to Sadler's Wells for a six week season in summer 2011. Sosimi will doubtless continue to drive the stage band. His third solo album is now long overdue, and it is to be hoped that the success of Fela! will assist its recording and release without too much further delay.

Brazilian Afrobeat: Abayomy Afrobeat Orquestra

Information from their myspace page:

ABAYOMY is an Ioruba word that means "happy meeting", and we strongly believe there's no better expression to translate the essence of the ABAYOMY AFROBEAT ORCHESTRA. The group was created in the same day of Fela Kuti's birthday, especially for the first edition in Rio de Janeiro of the FELA DAY -- an international event that celebrates the birth of the Nigerian creator of Afrobeat. Due to the quality of the happy meeting with friends and admirers of Fela Kuti, the group felt the necessity to go on with the Orchestra, in order to take advantage of the presence of this musical legacy in the work of many Brazilian artists, which is, at the same time, rarely explored. The ABAYOMY ORCHESTRA is formed by 13 musicians that move Rio de Janeiro's scene and have, as a creative basis, different styles of music. Mônica Ávila (Alto Sax), Fábio Lima (Tenor Sax), Thiago Queiroz (Bariton Sax) Leandro Joaquim (Thrumpet), Marco Serragrande (Trombone), Donatinho (Keyboard), Gustavo Benjão (Guitar), Victor Gottardi (Guitar), Pedro Dantas (Bass), Alexandre Garnizé (Percussion), Cláudio Fantinato (Percussion), Rodrigo Larosa (Percussion), Thomas Harres (Drums) use their Brazilian references and geniality with bright musical sounds, pressed by the afrobeat strenght with hypnotic and infinite grooves. In the musical list, besides their own compositions and covers of afrobeat classics, there are versions for the songs of artists such as Jorge Benjor, Marku Ribas, Antonio Carlos & Jocafi, among others directly inspired by African rhythmic sources. The show is a rich walk among these strong sounds. In this walk, the audience as well as the musicians of the ABAYOMY AFROBEAT ORCHESTRA create, through the music, a way to carry all of them to Africa...

abayomyorquestra

The Afrobeat Diaries ... by allaboutjazz.com (Pt.XVI)

by Chris May, allaboutjazz.com

---

Part 16 - Dele Sosimi: Turbulent Times

Whatever you may think of musicals, and most people either love them or hate them, the New York and London productions of Fela! are to be welcomed. Both have been distinguished as much by their house bands as by their leading actors and dancers, and, as a result, both have done Fela Kuti's legacy proud—confirming, if confirmation was needed, the Afrobeat originator's enduring power to connect.

That in itself is something to celebrate. And the shows have also boosted the profiles of the house bands themselves. The New York lineup is built around Brooklyn's decade-old Afrobeat ensemble, Antibalas—and has also included the outstanding percussionist Yoshiro Takemasa, from another fine Brooklyn group, Akoya Afrobeat—and in late 2010, Ropeadope reissued Antibalas' 2004 album, Who Is This America?. The show's London lineup includes ex-Egypt 80 keyboardist Dele Sosimi in a pivotal role (he's also music consultant to the production), and while we wait for the next Sosimi album, anyone who's yet to check out his 2002 own-name debut, the magnificent Turbulent Times, is in for a treat.

First, a little background. When he was only 16 years old, Sosimi joined Egypt 80, later becoming its music director. He was part of the band which produced the late masterpiece Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense (Wrasse, 1986), produced by Wally Badarou, which successfully reimagined the role of keyboards in Afrobeat. Other important albums featuring Sosimi include I.T.T. (International Thief Thief) (1979), Authority Stealing (1980), Original Sufferhead (1982), Perambulator (1983) and Army Arrangement (1985). He was a member of Femi Kuti's Positive Force for over ten years, before moving to London in the mid-1990s.

The with-vocals but essentially instrumental Turbulent Times picks up where Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense left off, foregrounding keyboards still further, and to brilliant effect. The cracking ten-piece band, which includes some of London's top Afrobeat musicians along with some of its best jazz players, nails all the key Afrobeat essentials—vocal and instrumental call and response, rich horn arrangements, socio-political engagement, tenor guitar licks, signature rhythms—while also nudging them into then-new territory. Each of the six tunes serves as a platform for the band's soloists: trumpeter/flugelhornist Byron Wallen) (two solos), baritone saxophonist Tony Kofi (two), tenor saxophonist Linus Bewley (one), trombonist Justin Thurgur (also in the London Fela! lineup, one), guitarist Kunle Olasoju (one), bassist Femi Elias (one) and drummer Feyi Akinwunmi (one). Sosimi himself solos, in a winningly melodic, jazz-inflected style, on most tracks (and sings, briefly but convincingly, on four of them). The combination of a red hot band, inventive arrangements rooted in the tradition but of their own time, and singular soloists given their heads is simply outstanding.

Turbulent Times is a little masterpiece, and it deserves—and in the Fela! slipstream may actually receive—a lot more attention in 2011 than it got first time around. It's an album that should be in any serious Afrobeat collection.

Another Afrobeat crusader enjoying the spillage of limelight from Fela! is artist (and, back in the day, Young African Pioneer) Ghariokwu Lemi, who designed many of Afrika 70's most striking record sleeves. Given complete creative license by Kuti, Lemi's work did more than complement the music, becoming an Afrobeat phenomenon in itself. Top galleries around the world are now interested in showing Lemi's work and a book is in the offing. Turbulent Times features a Lemi front cover (as did Akoya's 2008 Afrobomb album, President Dey Pass). There's talk of Lemi designing the cover for Seun Kuti's next album, due later in 2011, and another for Chicago Afrobeat Project.

There are plenty of well-produced concert clips of Sosimi viewable on YouTube, but the shaky, low-fi footage below, shot at one of Sosimi's bimonthly Afrobeat Vibration nights—a highlight of the London Afrobeat scene—conveys the spirit of the music well.