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Afrobeat

Drum Intro For Tony Allen’s Go Back From His Latest Album

Damon Albarn is a pretty lucky guy since his rock star status allows him to play with musicians of the calibre of Tony Allen. Having said that, he’s quite good at songwriting and Go Back from the album Film Of Life is really good. On the album version of the song is this intro which I just realised is absent from the radio version of the song which is available on Youtube. I guess it’s a good reason to get… Read More »Drum Intro For Tony Allen’s Go Back From His Latest Album

I Saw Tony Allen Play In London

So last Thursday I got to see Tony Allen at a venue in London called the Village Underground. I was very excited to see him play since I have a bit of a drum infatuation with his incredibly funky and unique drumming. The set comprised the songs on his new album Film Of Life and I felt very glad to go and see the great musician’s left foot in action in real life, so to speak. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really… Read More »I Saw Tony Allen Play In London

Tony Allen

I’m Looking Forward To Seeing Tony Allen Next Week

Next Thursday I’ll be going to see Tony Allen playing in London, at the Village Underground in Shoreditch. I guess he’ll be playing a bunch of stuff from his new album, Film Of Life, which sounds great. I’m really looking forward to seeing him play since I’ve spent a chunk of the last year or so trying to do what he does. I love his loose and energetic playing and his amazing touch. Something I am finding particularly challenging is… Read More »I’m Looking Forward To Seeing Tony Allen Next Week

This Is The First Afrobeat Drum Groove According To Tony Allen

And I suppose he’d know something about it… I highly recommend watching both of the following videos. The audio is not fantastic but there is a demonstration of some typical Highlife drumming and how he added a left foot hihat on the 2 & 4 and then he shows us the first groove of Afrobeat. When I first tried playing Afrobeat, I found that playing 16ths on the kick on 1 and 1e and 3 and 3e is particularly challenging… Read More »This Is The First Afrobeat Drum Groove According To Tony Allen

More Tony Allen – Fela’s Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense

Important Addendum: The drummer on this album is not Tony Allen, I shoud have checked the credits. It was made after Tony Allen left Fela Kuti’s band. In a recent post I linked to the Fela Kuti Bandcamp Account. I was immediately drawn to the album called Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense and was delighted to hear the album’s title track open with the same groove that my first Afrobeat related post about Ariya Astrobeat’s African Kings has in its… Read More »More Tony Allen – Fela’s Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense

Free Streaming of Fela Kuti Albums

I just discovered that a load of Fela Kuti albums have been made available to stream on Bandcamp. This is a great opportunity to listen to an amazing collection of music. Since I have been discovering Afrobeat and Tony Allen’s drumming in particular, I will be trying to hear as much of this stuff as I can. When I first found the Bandcamp page I clicked on the first item that caught my eye, an album called Teacher Don’t Teach… Read More »Free Streaming of Fela Kuti Albums

More Afrobeat – Tony Allen’s Groove on Fela’s Go Slow

I have been dawdling about with this and Miles Arntzen’s fab article in January’s Modern Drummer has reminded me to keep going with my learning about Afrobeat and Tony Allen’s drumming in particular. Music is The Weapon Of The Future is an album I’ve been listening to quite a bit. On the track Go Show Allen’s juxtaposition of lightness and fearsome groove is almost too much to bear. I have been trying to get the feel of this track right… Read More »More Afrobeat – Tony Allen’s Groove on Fela’s Go Slow

Some Ideas For Developing Your Afrobeat Drumming

It’s been a while since I got into my Afrobeat thing. I discovered the style largely through listening to Antibalas and Ariya Astrobeat Arkestra. From that followed much listening to Fela Kuti and Tony Allen. I’ve written up a page of groove exercises based on what I found to be the most notable features of Afrobeat drumming. These include playing the 8th plus two 16ths pattern on the hihat or ride and playing the 1 and 1e (and the 3… Read More »Some Ideas For Developing Your Afrobeat Drumming

Introduction To Afrobeat Drumming – African Kings

“I am not a bushman!” says a bloke at the beginning of the track African Kings by Ariya Astrobeat Arkestra. What does he mean? I don’t know. I don’t know a lot about Afrobeat either but since I started listening to Antibalas a while back I have been getting into this style of music and, of course, the attendant drumming style. Getting to grips with Afrobeat means listening to Fela Kuti and the legendary Tony Allen who is considered the… Read More »Introduction To Afrobeat Drumming – African Kings

What I?m Listening To This Week

I’m never far away from a bit of Lowell George, one of the greatest singers and songwriters in the universe. Here is a fantastic track from his only solo album, Thanks I’ll Eat It Here which is a mixed bag, something typical of the great man’s recorded output. The album has an incredible line up of the who’s who of 70’s session cats. The drummers include Jims Keltner & Gordon, Richie Hayward, Floyd Sneed and Jeff Porcaro who is laying… Read More »What I?m Listening To This Week

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