|
For Antibalas F.A.Q. click
here
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, creator of Afrobeat, passes away.
Martín Perna is inspired to form an orchestra called
Conjunto Antibalas based on the models of Fela’s Africa
70 band and Eddie Palmieri’s Harlem River Drive Orchestra.
May 26, 1998
Known at first as El Conjunto Antibalas (Bulletproof Ensemble),
the group performs its inaugural show at St. Nick's Pub in
Harlem, New York, with a lineup of seven members. Over the
summer, the group plays at several community markets and
small outdoor festivals in New York City.
Over the following months, more musicians
find their way into the band. A core group of 11 musicians
is solidified, and a repertoire of original afrobeat songs
is developed. Antibalas has its first recording session
at the Desco studios on 41st Street in Manhattan, recording “Dirt and Blood”, “World
War IV,” “Machete,” “Uprising” engineered
by Gabriel Roth and featuring Egypt 80 drummer Jojo Kuo.
September, 1999
Antibalas initiates the first of seventy AFRICALIA! parties
at NoMoore in Lower Manhattan. This party, dedicated to celebrating
afrobeat and other musics of the African diaspora, will last
until April 2001, when the club is abruptly closed due to
fire violations.
October, 1999
The band embarks on a week-long tour of England. They arrive
in London, with no place to stay. Through the hospitality
of kind strangers, the maneuvering of the now defunct Big
Daddy Magazine, Antibalas performs raucous shows in Nottingham,
London, and Ascot, where they sleep on the floor of the dressing
room. Returning to New York, Amayo begins to ad-lib vocals
on some of the tunes.
Antibalas, along with Gabe Roth and
Desco/Daptone Records moves its headquarters to Williamsburg,
Brooklyn. “NESTA,” “Si,
Se Puede,” and “Battle of the Species” are
recorded in the basement of Amayo’s. The first edition
of “Liberation Afrobeat Vol. 1” is released independently.
Spring 2000
Antibalas returns to England for
another, more comprehensive tour, including a performance
to 1200 people at the Africa Roots and Shoots festival
at the Barbican Center, and back-to-back sold out shows
at London's Jazz Café. Weeks later,
the group performs alongside Tony Allen, pioneer of afrobeat
drumming at New York's Knitting Factory.
Antibalas begins construction of
a studio/recording studio/lounge/performance space at Amayo’s
Afro-Spot.
Summer 2000
Antibalas continues the AFRICALIA
party and performs at several outdoor festivals and events
throughout New York, including the Celebrate Brooklyn!
Series in Prospect Park, and PS1 Museum of Contemporary
Art in Queens. They construct a shared recording/rehearsal/performance
space in their neighborhood in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. "Liberation Afrobeat Vol.
1" is released independently on Afrosound Records.
Fall 2000
Antibalas heads to Canada and the Midwest, performing four
shows in two days as part of the Chicago World Music Festival,
and appearing at the Lotus Festival in Bloomington, Indiana.
The group begins recording of the Talkatif tracks at the
Afro Spot studios.
Late Winter 2000
Antibalas returns from winter hiatus
to perform at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Shortly thereafter,
they embark on a series of tours, bring them to California,
Quebec, Ontario, Vermont, Michigan, and Illinois. They
sign a recording contract with London-based record label
Ninja Tune. George Bush steals the presidency. Antibalas
responds by reviving the Fela classic “Authority
Stealing” and performs it nightly throughout their
spring tour.
Spring 2001
"Liberation Afrobeat Vol.1" is
released on Ninja Tune Records. Aboard a ramshackle tour
bus, Antibalas completes a 12 day tour of England and Ireland
with several sold-out shows. Amayo, vocalist for Antibalas,
forms his Fu-Arkist-Ra, a conceptual afrobeat project composed
mainly of Antibalas musicians, and begins performing in
New York.
Summer 2001
Antibalas shares the stage with Femi
Kuti in an afrobeat summit at the Montreal Jazz Festival.
They deliver afrobeat to the European continent in festivals
in Switzerland and the Netherlands, and record “Trouble Sleep” with
Baaba Maal, Kaouding Cissoko, and Taj Mahal in the “Red
Hot and Riot” compilation.
Fall 2001
The band continues to play live and
records and finishes their second album for Ninja Tune.
Gabriel Roth of Daptone and Desco fame and Antibalas finish "Talkatif" record
in their studio space at Amayo's Afro Spot in Williamsburg,
Brooklyn.
Winter 2002
Packed into a Green Tortoise bus,
Antibalas tours the West Coast, from Seattle to Sand Diego.
They meet legendary Fela collaborator and “Upside Down” singer
Sandra Iszadore in Los Angeles.
Winter/Spring 2002
Antibalas plays a sold-out Bowery
Ballroom, to celebrate the release of “Talkatif,” their
second release with the Ninja Tune label.
Antibalas, along with Daptone Records and Amayo are forced
to vacate their studios at the AfroSpot as gentrification
drives up neighborhood rents.
Summer – Fall
2002
A comprehensive European tour takes Antibalas to new destinations
including major music festivals such as Roskilde Festival,
Istanbul Jazz Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, Cactus Festival
among others. A much anticipated presentation in Paris happens
at the floating nightclub Batofar. Later that summer, Antibalas
performs at the Newport Jazz Festival, sharing the closing
shows sharing the day with Herbie Hancock and Isaac Hayes.
Release of Che Che Cole 12” featuring
Mayra Vega on Daptone Records.
The song becomes an international
dancefloor killer on multiple continents and later appears
in the soundtrack to Van Peeble’s “Baadass.”
Canada tour. Antibalas visits Deep South and Florida for
the first time.
They find a new home and headquarters in Bushwick, Brooklyn
NY, sharing space with the Dap Kings and Sugarman Three.
Antibalas performs two steamy shows
at the Bonaroo Festival, while the horn section guests
with Medeski, Martin and Wood and Cyro Baptisa’s
Beat the Donkey Ensemble. A week later, they revisit the
Canadian jazz festival circuit.
Returning from tour, they go into
newly constructed the Daptone Studio in Bushwick, Brooklyn,
to record “Who
is this America.”. New Yorkers are treated to several
outdoor shows including Battery Park (opening for James Brown),
Turntables on the Hudson in Harlem, Fort Greene Park, and Revolution
127th St. Block Party with Artist Brett Cook-Dizney.
The “Fela: Black President” exhibit opens at
the New Museum in Soho, New York. New York swells with players
of the first wave of Afrobeat. Antibalas meets MK “ID” Idowu,
author of “Why Blackman Carry Shit,” Femi “Foto” Bankole,
official Fela photographer, and Ghariokwu Lemi, artist and
graphic designer, and designer behind Antibalas’ “Talkatif” album.
Antibalas makes its first appearances in Spain at the WOMEX
World Music Expo in Sevilla, as the only band chosen from
North America, followed by a sweaty nightclub show at Sala
Caracol in Madrid the next night. They tour the West Coast
and Deep South. Brooklyn Museum of Art sponsors a special
Antibalas performance, its first ever with choreographed
dancers.
Northeast USA and Eastern Canada
tour. England, Ireland, and Scotland tour including a collaboration
with Seun Anikulapo-Kuti in London at the Jazz Café.
“Who is This America?” the third studio record,
is released on Ropeadope/Artemis records, followed by heavy
European and US touring including performances at Glastonbury
and Eurockennes Festivals, and New York’s Central Park.
In between tours, Antibalas records 10 songs at Excello
Studios for future release. At the Yerba Buena Art Center,
San Francisco, the band meets and collaborates with Babatunde
Williams, lead trumpet/soloist for the Afrika 70 Band. Later
on, during the Heimatklange Festival in Berlin, the group
collaborates with more Afrika 70 members, Oghene Kologbo
and Nicholas Addey over five nights.
Antibalas begins its biggest tour
ever supporting “Who
is this America?”, 50 shows over 60 days in the US
and Canada. In San Francisco, Tunde Williams records trumpet
solos on forthcoming Antibalas recordings and performs with
the group at the Great American Music Hall. The tour concludes
with a Halloween show (in full costume) with Medeski, Martin,
and Wood in New York City, followed by a lecture at Yale
University.
The group begins writing new material and preparing for
release the summer 2004 Excello recording sessions. Antibalas
is invited to Japan for the first time. |
