Tony Allen - N.E.P.A. (1984)

Tony Allen to urodzony w 1940 roku, znakomity nigeryjski perkusista, kompozytor i autor tekstów. Był samoukiem,na perkusji nauczył się grać słuchając nagrań m.in. amerykańskich twórców jazzowych, takich jak Art Blakey, Elvin Jones czy Max Roach oraz czerpiąc inspiracje z tradycji afrykańskiej, podpatrując takich perkusistów jak chociażby Kofi Ghanaba. Międzynarodowe uznanie przyniosła mu współpraca z zespołem Feli Kutiego, w której pełnił role perkusisty, aranżera i kierownika muzycznego. Przyjmuje się powszechnie, że Fela Kuti i on właśnie łącząc w zadziwiający sposób jazz, funk oraz afrykański highlife stworzyli unikalny, natchniony i politycznie zaangażowany styl zwany do dziś afrobeat, współtworząc w jego ramach wspólnie kilkadziesiąt albumów. W 1975 roku Allen nagrał debiutancki solowy album ''Jealousy'', następnie w 1976 ''Progress'' i ''No Accomodation for Lagos '' w 1978 roku, producentem wszystkich trzech albumów byl jeszcze Fela Kuti. W 1979 roku drogi obu artystów rozeszły się, Tony Allen przeniósł się do Europy i od tego czasu tworzy na własne konto, nagrywając płyty firmowane własnym nazwiskiem oraz współpracując z szeregiem twórców jak Randy Weston, Groove Armada, Air, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Manu Dibango i Grace Jones. Po wielu latach grania w cieniu bardziej znanych muzyków Tony Allen zaczyna być dostrzegany i co ważniejsze doceniany przez szersze rzesze słuchaczy jako jeden z najbardziej wszechstronnych i wpływowych perkusistów rodem z Afryki.

***

The drummer and unofficial music director of the late Fela Kuti's band, Africa 70, from 1968 until 1979, Tony Allen (born Tony Oladipo Allen) helped create the sounds of Afro-beat. With his solo recordings, however, Allen has refused to remain stagnant, incorporating dub and avant-garde hip-hop influences into his modern African dance music.

A self-taught musician, Allen began to play drums at the age of 18 while working as a technician for a Nigerian radio station. Within nine months, he had embarked on a professional career as a drummer. Although they had known each other since the early '60s, when they performed on the Nigerian music circuit with different bands, Allen and Kuti began playing American-style jazz together in 1964. Before long, they shifted to a more African-influenced style of highlife jazz, which they continued to play for five years.

Forming Africa 70 in 1969, Allen and Kuti began reaching out to an international audience. A few months later, while touring North America for the first time, Allen was introduced to the music of James Brown, Max Roach, and Art Blakey. Despite critical acclaim, the group faced numerous obstacles, including financial difficulties, racial discrimination, and political oppression. Arrested during the first of a long series of government-sponsored raids of black townships in 1974, Allen spent three days in jail. The following year, he released his first album as a leader, Progress. After performing his last show with Kuti and Africa 70 at the Berlin Jazz Festival in 1979, Allen continued to play with his group Lagos until emigrating to Europe in 1984. After temporarily living in London, he settled in France the following year and worked as a session drummer for such transplanted African musicians as Ray Lema and Manu DiBango, and released N.E.P.A. (Never Expect Power Always) in 1985.

Allen was largely inactive for the next decade, re-emerging in the late '90s with a string of singles, culminating in the release of Home Cooking in 2002. Reissues of his '70s solo albums started showing up around the same time, as well as Eager Hands and Restless Feet: The Best of Tony Allen, a summation of his post-Fela career. In 2004 a live album came out, and 2006 saw a return to his Afro-Beat roots with Lagos No Shaking, which was recorded in the Nigerian city itself. That same year, Allen co-founded the British alternative rock outfit the Good, the Bad & the Queen alongside Paul Simonon (the Clash), Simon Tong (the Verve) and Damon Albarn (Blur) and released a well-received eponymous album under the moniker in 2007, followed by an all new collection of Afro-Beat material in 2009 called Secret Agent. (Craig Harris)

link in comments