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Posts Tagged Afrobeat

Archive

May 1, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

R.I.P. Tony Allen

Reports are coming in that Tony Allen has died. He was just shy of his 80th birthday and had remained very active in music across the last decade; in fact he was super prolific – with a diverse range of collaborations across jazz, pop and funk music. But even if he had stopped playing 40 […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Africa, Afrobeat, Damon Albarn, Drummer, Drumming, Drums, Eulogy, Fela Kuti, Nigeria, R.I.P., R.I.P. Tony Allen, Rocket Juice and The Moon, The Good The Bad And The Queen, Tony Allen ·

Archive

April 29, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Ebo Taylor: Palaver

Ebo Taylor Palaver BBE Music Ebo Taylor – living legend of African highlife music is still in rude health at 83 – at least as far as 2018’s Yen Ara let us know; a career highlight. And now we have Palaver, not strictly a new recording – but it’s the first time this 40-year-old album […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Africa, African, Afrobeat, Album Review, Archive, BBE Music, Ebo Taylor, Ebo Taylor: Palaver, Fela Kuti, higlife, Lost Album, Palaver, Yen Ara, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

Archive

February 26, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Sweetman Podcast # 209: Lucien Johnson

Welcome to episode 209 of Sweetman Podcast with support from our sponsors – T Leaf T  and Yeastie Boys . Now – as you probably know, as well as the usual platforms (this site, soundcloud, iTunes/Apple) you can now get to Sweetman Podcast on Spotify – follow it there and have it saved in your […]
Posted in Blog, Podcasts · Tagged Acast, Achor, Afrobeat, Anchor FM, Ant Donaldson, Apple Podcasts, Arts Festival, Chat, Choreography, Chris O'Connor, Classical, Composer, Composition, Conversation, Dance, Ethio-Jazz, Ethiopia, Festival of the Arts, France, Interview, Jazz, Jeff Henderson, John Coltrane, John Psathas, Jonathan Crayford, Louis Johnson, Lucien Johnson, Lucy Marinkovich, Mike Nock, Miles Davis, NZ Festival, Off The Tracks, Podcast, Sax, Saxophone, Shogun Orchestra, Simon Sweetman, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, Strasbourg 1518, Sweetman Podcast, Sweetman Podcast # 209, Sweetman Podcast # 209: Lucien Johnson, Sweetman Podcast: Lucien Johnson, Syzergy, T Leaf T, The Space, Thelonious Monk, Tom Callwood, Wellington, Yeastie Boys, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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June 26, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

Ebo Taylor: Yen Ara

Ebo Taylor Yen Ara Mr. Bongo Ebo Taylor, “Mr Highlife” – the Ghanian bandleader, composer, guitarist and singer now in his 80s – might have just made the best album of his career; certainly a highlight, one of several high points, granted. But the effortlessness, the joy, the political energy and anger, the sheer musicality […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Africa, Afrobeat, Album Review, Ebo Taylor, Ebo Taylor: Yen Ara, Ghana, Highlife, Justin Adams, Mr. Bongo, Ye Ara ·

Archive

June 25, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

Angelique Kidjo: Remain In Light

Angelique Kidjo Remain in Light KRAVENWORKS Angelique Kidjo is African Music Royalty – even if she’s suffered some claims of (somehow) not being “Authentic”. Hers is a fine body of work, moving and political, so often utterly joyous and accessible too as she creates a version of Afrobeat that integrates mainstream international music; hers then […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Africa, African Music, Afrobeat, Afropop, Album Review, Angelique Kidjo, Angelique Kidjo: Remain In Light, Antibalas, Blood Orange, Born Under Punches, Brian Eno, Crosseyed And Painless, Houses In Motion, KRAVENWORKS, Once In A Lifetime, Remain In Light, Talking Heads, Tony Allen, Vampire Weekend, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

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October 4, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Antibalas: Where The Gods Are In Peace

Antibalas Where The Gods Are In Peace Daptone The first new Antibalas album in five years is a rebuild – in many ways. The long-running American tribute to Afrobeat orchestra has shed several key members to top pop and indie bands (The Roots, The Black Keys, Mark Ronson, Arcade Fire) and has gathered up some […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Afrobeat, Album Review, Antibalas, Antibalas: Where The Gods Are In Peace, Daptone, Where The Gods Are In Peace, Who Is This America? ·

Archive

September 25, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

Tony Allen: A Tribute To Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers (ep)

Tony Allen A Tribute To Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers (ep) Blue Note Records Originally released as a 10” EP – two tracks per side – this tribute to Art Blakey by Tony Allen is full of magic; for a start it welcomes Allen to Blue Note and has him playing his version of […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged 10", A Tribute To Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, A Tribute To Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers (ep), Africa, Afrobeat, Album Review, Art Blakey, Blue Note, Bobby Timmons, EP, Jazz, Jean Phi Dary, Limited Edition, Ltd Ed, Mathias Allamane, Max Roach, Moanin', Night In Tunisia, Orgy In Rhythm, Politely, Remi Scuito, The Drum Thunder Suite, The Jazz Messengers, Tony Allen, Tony Allen: A Tribute To Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers (ep) ·

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March 11, 2016 by Simon Sweetman

Stubs: #194 – Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Wellington, 2010

I think maybe this was the most disappointing show I’ve been to based on expectation – shit I was looking forward to it. Antibalas as they’re now called – it used to be Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra – had released this fucking-killer record, called Who Is This America? And it had arrived to me in the […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 2010, Afrobeat, Antibalas, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Arts Festival, Dominion Post, Fela Kuti, Festival of the Arts, Live Gig, NZ Festival, Review, Stub, Stubs, Stubs: #194 – Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Wellington, Who Is This America? ·

Archive

December 16, 2014 by Simon Sweetman

Drummers You Just Can’t Beat: # 7 – Tony Allen

You know when you see a really great juggler – the balls are all up in the air, the hands are simultaneously a blur and seem far too casual, you keep wondering how they’re going to make it, how will the circle hold, how is it that everything can stay up in the air and […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Afrobeat, Drummer, Drummers You Just Can't Beat, Drummers You Just Can't Beat # 7, Drummers You Just Can’t Beat # 7 – Tony Allen, Drumming, Drums, Fela Kuti, Phantom Billstickers, Tony Allen ·

Archive

October 19, 2014 by Simon Sweetman

Ikebe Shakedown: Stone By Stone

Ikebe Shakedown Stone by Stone Ubiquity Afrobeat-informed soul-jazz instrumentals, always good stuff right? And then you think about how when people try to fill an album with them – unless it’s the real stuff – you can get a bit bored. But the Brooklyn-based Ikebe Shakedown have got that sound down – it’s a bit […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Afrobeat, Album Review, Antibalas, Ikebe Shakedown, Instrumental, Menahan Street Band, Soul Jazz, Stone by Stone, The Crossing, Ubiquity ·

Archive

June 25, 2014 by Simon Sweetman

tUnE-yArDs: Nikki Nack

tUnE-yArDs Nikki Nack 4AD Merrill Garbus has been making music under the annoying moniker tUnE-yArDs for three full albums now, across a half-decade, her voice a key element – stretching out to embrace hip-hop and dance music ideas, coiling back in on various indie-rock templates too. One minute she’s a one-woman Dirty Projectors and on […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged African Pop, Afrobeat, Album Review, Appropriation, Dirty Projectors, Graceland, Nikki Nack, Paul Simon, tUnE-yArDs, Vampire Weekend ·

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December 15, 2013 by Simon Sweetman

Cave: Threace

Cave Threace Drag City You know how that new Arcade Fire album was fucking absurd – particularly when it tried to be funky – well here’s the antidote. Cave’s latest, their third, as the title tells us, has the hypnotic grooves – via Afrobeat and Krautrock – that Arcade Fire was flailing about and (still) […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Afrobeat, Album Review, Ambient, Arcade Fire, Cave, Minimalism, Moon Duo, Post-Rock, Threace, Wooden Shjips ·
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