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Martin Perna assembled the first
formation of Antibalas with seven people for a performance
at St. Nick’s Pub
in Harlem on May 26, 1998 performing entirely original material
and one Ethiopian funk tune. Over the next year, the membership
evolved and grew to 13 people, including Gabriel Roth, Don
Bonus, Fernando Velez and other musicians from the now-defunct
Desco Records stable, and musicians from the Williamsburg,
Brooklyn neighborhood. The group played almost exclusively
non-commercial spaces like lofts, benefits, block parties,
museums, and community markets before entering the nightclubs
of downtown Manhattan.
How many people are in Antibalas?
Antibalas tours with eleven to fourteen
musicians with an active lineup of about seventeen musicians.
Over thirty musicians have come through Antibalas since
1998, plus dozens of distinguished guests including Femi
Kuti, Seun Kuti, Jojo Kuo, Ola Jagun, Tunde Williams, Oghene
Kologbo and Nicholas Addey of Fela’s
Africa 70 and Egypt 80 bands.
What is Afrobeat music?
Afrobeat is a hybrid form of jazz and Nigerian traditional
music popularized and developed in the late 1960s in Lagos,
Nigeria by Fela Anikulapo Kuti. It also incorporates other
elements of West African popular music such as highlife,
palmwine, apala, Afrocuban, and Afro-American funk and soul
music.
How did the group begin playing Afrobeat?
Each of the musicians came to know
Afrobeat in a different way. Vocalist Amayo grew up in
the same Lagos, Nigeria neighborhood as Fela Kuti’s Shrine nightclub, the mecca of Afrobeat
music since the early 1970s. Martin Perna first heard afrobeat
in a hip hop sample in 1991, and began his quest to hear
more of the music through digging in the crates and finding
rare, out-of-print records and absorbing them. Victor Axelrod’s
father bought him a copy of Fela’s “Original
Sufferhead” album in New York City in the late 80s.
A few members were introduced to Afrobeat upon joining the
band.
Antibalas’ earliest repertoire
consisted of both original funk, latin funk, and afrobeat
tunes, and due to pressures within the group at the time,
we decided early on to focus on afrobeat and afrobeat-influenced
funk music. Former Egypt 80 drummer Jojo Kuo, living in
New York was a formative musical influence and guide on
Antibalas in the early days of the group as well.
Is the band a “tribute band” to
Fela Kuti?
The group is a tribute band insofar as we honor Fela by
keeping afrobeat music alive. When we perform, we may incorporate
one, maybe two Fela originals into our set for the evening
which may have ten or twelve songs in total.
How does Antibalas write its material?
The songwriting for the group is open to everyone. Certain
members will bring in a tune, completely notated for all
instruments. Other songs come to the group as fragments or
themes and are completed in rehearsals, either by the composer,
or with input in arrangement or co-composition by the rest
of the group. Martin Perna, Gabriel Roth, Victor Axelrod,
Amayo, Del Stribling, Jordan McLean, and Stuart Bogie have
all brought songs to the group for recording and performing.
Does the group “jam”?
No. The group is conducted onstage primarily by trombonist
Aaron Johnson or by saxophonist Stuart Bogie, and also follows
certain cues by Amayo, the lead vocalist. There are distinct
sections in each of the songs that call for a horn or keyboard
improvisation, or a drum break. Certain songs always feature
solos from the same instrument while other songs have rotating
solos, depending on the decisions of the musicians.
What has Antibalas recorded?
Uprising 45 single (1999, Afrosound)
Liberation Afrobeat Vol. 1 (2000, Afrosound, reissued by
Ninja Tune in 2001)
Tour EP (2002 Afrosound)
Talkatif (2002 Ninja Tune)
Che Che Cole 12” (2003 Daptone)
Who Is this America (2004 Ropeadope)
Antibalas studio recordings have
appeared on over ten afrobeat/afrofunk compilations since
1999, including the “Red Hot and
Riot” tribute to Fela on MCA in 2002.
Where has the group performed?
Since 1998 Antibalas has performed over 500 shows in fourteen
countries: USA, Canada, England, Ireland, France, Netherlands,
Denmark, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium, Turkey, Germany,
and Japan
How does the group make decisions as such a large
group?
Decisions are mostly made by a consensus of whichever members
are around to weigh in on the issue. Antibalas has a manager
and booking agent which represent the group for business
and booking matters.
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