WOMAD

Tony Allen

From Nigeria

Revered among the great drummers to have emerged from Africa, Tony Allen helped create Afrobeat with Fela Kuti - and even 24 years after leaving Fela's band, Tony remains a restless and potent trailblazer for new African musical adventures. From growing up listening to Juju, indigenous Yoruba music and the emerging Highlife sounds in Lagos, Tony joined the Cool Cats in the 1950s, then became a foundation member of Fela Kuti's original band in 1964 - the only drummer in Nigeria who meshed jazz and Highlife rhythms, in a style that became known as Afrobeat. His unique polyrhythmic style borrows from multiple cultures; African drum kit traditions laid down by Ghana's Kofi Ghanaba to the driving jazz of Max Roach, Art Blakely and Elvin Jones. Tony left Kuti's band to perform an all-drummer show with Khofi Ghanaba, with King Sunny Ade, Ray Lema, the dub soaked Black Voices project and deconstructed jazzy Afrobeat of Psycho On Da Bus. Recently he has divided time between the Tony Allen Orchestra, promoting his Lagos No Shaking album, and drumming with The Good The Bad and The Queen, the cross-cultural London supergroup that features former Blur singer Damon Albarn and The Clash's former bassist Paul Simonon.

http://www.myspace.com/tonyallenafrobeat