Tony Allen: Afrobeat’s Impossible Drummer

[Music] when Tony Allen left Africa 70 the ground shaking afrobeat group in which he crafted inescapable rhythms throughout the 1970s the band's legendary founder fouti had to hire four new drummers to replace him it sounds like the punchline to a joke but it's true no other drummer could weave together the disperate drum patterns to spawn one golden Groove quite like Allan did it's what sets him apart as one of the all-time great drummers the end drive to concoct rhythms that despite their fish complexity never failed to get people dancing born in 1940 Allan was raised in Lagos the capital city of what was then British colonial Nigeria from an early age the musical Menagerie that would come to Define his drumming style began to take life he soaked up the music of his Elders traditional Yuba styles that were energized by mesmeric poly rythmic percussion he eagerly awaited sounds from America sent by Jazz luminaries such as art Blakey and Max Roach whose own Creations had been influenced by West African music and were now flowing back across the Atlantic later he got swept up in the sound of 60s Lagos high life itself an evolution of Western Jazz that swayed with a distinctly African LT he was desperate to be part of it all and took a job playing claves in the Cool Cats a band Led by Nigerian High Life Pioneer Victor olaya when the group's drummer left Allan took his chance and got behind the kit but he was intent on doing things differently reflecting in 2018 Alan told American music critic Jeffrey heims I knew that we drummers were doing something wrong because we didn't use the high hat pedal only the bass drum pedal it was like trying to ride a bicycle using only one pedal why was that because we didn't know what it was there for so I went looking for a solution and he found it in an issue of downbeat magazine which had worked its way from the Chicago printing press into the hands of a voracious Allan some 6,000 Mi away it featured a two-page feature on his drum hero roach explaining how to alternate between the open and closed high hat sound Allan turned roach's words into action and Incorporated it into his own playing style it was a small But Mighty Innovation that made him stand hand Out Among the High Life crowd and which would remain a fundamental part of his style for the rest of his career crucially it also caught the ear of fouti the man with whom Allan would go on to forge the brave new sound of Afro beat Allan recorded their first meeting in the first half of the 60s in his 2013 autobiography the first thing he asked me was are you the one who said that you were the best drummer in this country I laughed and told him I never said so he asked me if I could play jazz and I said yes he asked me if I could take solos and I said yes again the duo began playing together on the Legos scene in 1964 Alan was asked to join cti's band Kula laitos CTI was a struck by Allen's drumming and hir him to play on The High Life circuit but it soon became obvious that cti's firey Artistry and Allan's kaleidoscopic Style with all those whirling influences was something unique and before long it had a name too afro beat they had moderate success in Nigeria but it was a trip to Los Angeles at the tail end of the 60s that changed everything coutti became swept up in the vital sounds of American Funk and soul and was awoken politically after meeting members of the Black Panther Party he returned to his home country with a new Vigor electrified by the convictions of black power and pan-africanism as well as a broadened musical Horizon afro beat became a whole new beast and Allan was at the heart of it all he was named by CTI as the drummer and musical director of Africa 70 the rebranded Kula litos which was also called Nigeria 70 for a time and set about laying down the Beats upon which afro beat would erupt the genre had flashes of high life but this was something different listen to this High Life track from the' 60s by the previously mentioned Victor olaya and compare it with the title track of cti's 1972 album roo roo fight the song is one of the greatest and earliest examples of AFR in its true [Music] form it's like night and day Victor oia's song is hugely subdued by comparison whereas Allan's poly rhythms on roo roo fight give it a Relentless burning Heat that keeps things going for more than 15 minutes huge run times would become a habit with CTI and Allen both on their records and during their live performances which would Blaze on for hours often throughout the night over the course of the' 70s the pair would deliver a string of legendary afro Beat Records all with Incredible groundbreaking drumming the likes of expensive in 1975 zombie in 1976 and no agreement in [Music] 1977 SL Left Right upute open [Applause] [Music] your CTI and Alan grew to become some of the best loved musicians in Africa but it was far from plain sailing cti's intensely political lyrics which confronted the woes of postcolonial Nigeria made him a target of the ruling Elite who responded with vicious acts of persecution that immense pressure coupled with the rigers of cti's humongous touring crew some 70 people at its peak according to Allan as well as disputes over royalties meant that Allan felt compelled to leave Africa 70 in 1979 he stayed in Lagos performing with his own band no discrimination before moving to London for a short stint eventually settling in Paris in the mid 80s for the rest of his career Allan remained laser focused on Innovation he infused elements of dub Electronica and more into his afrobeat sound and Was a Serial collaborator as he told the Guardians Robin Denow later in his career I just don't want to be stagnant and bored you can't keep doing the same things some of his most notable collaborations came alongside blur and gorilla's frontman Damon Orban with whom he formed the super group The Good The Bad and The Queen alongside Paul Simon of the Clash and the verb Simon Tong their self-titled debut album came out in [Music] 2007 elsewhere his collaborations were drawn from as wide a pool as Detroit techno progenitor Jeff Mills [Music] two French multi-instrumentalist and one time Eurovision contestant Sebastian [Music] tier if there's one word to sum up Tony alam's drumming one that we've already used multiple times in this video it's poly rythmic and when you consider the music he grew up around it's almost inevitable that his style would be defined by intertwining patterns check out a Cut From This Record it's a soul Jazz compilation from 2018 but the Nigerian artists featured are deeply rooted in the kind of Yuba Traditions that Alan absorbed from at an early [Music] age and then if we take one of the American jazz drummers that Alan so adored say art Blakey we can see some clear through lines blakey's incredible limb control and ability to play with real sensitivity while still laying down deep grooves is something that Alan M emulated in his own right as luck would have it we've recently done a deep dive into the legacy of art Blakey which you can check out here and if you're enjoying this video on Tony Allen and feel inclined to watch our take on Blakey then you may as well subscribe because that's exactly the kind of thing we do on the channel if you'd be kind enough to leave a little tip by clicking thanks or even become an offbeat member with exclusive perks by hitting join then we'd be hugely appreciative too cheers but back to Tony Allen melding all those influences and laying them down on record is one thing but playing them live and keeping them going for hours upon hours are those Marathon Africa 70 gigs is another thing altogether so how did he do it the key is in this quote also given to the writer Jeffrey heims I don't beat my drums I caress them and if you've ever seen footage of Allan playing you'll know exactly what he means check out this footage of Allan exhibiting some of the foundational patterns of aphr beat and see how softly he plays while still managing to extract some serious rhythm [Music] [Music] admittedly these are both recorded in the studio so he's not pushed to his limits but they both give an unencumbered view of how magnificently subtle and controlled Alan is how he's able to get so much from at first glance at least so little and you'll see something similar with Alan playing live with a band as well there's not a lot of good readily available footage specifically of Alan during the Africa 70 Heyday the cameras are naturally pulled towards cti's magnetic presence but you can see Allan playing here in [Music] 2011 playing this way allowed Alan to always be in 100% control never losing himself to the power of the beat or to the drift of the musicians around him and by having this calm disciplined approach as his default Alan would always leave himself with plenty of space to maneuver molding and morphing his Beats as required if CTI wanted the track to go on for half an hour wanted it to get rockus who wanted it to wind down wanted whatever Alan had the capacity and the ability to provide it Allan sadly passed away in 2020 at the age of 79 a time at which he was still very much in the thick of his drumming career just weeks earlier he had released Jo a wonderful album with the South African Jazz legend Hugh [Music] masaca and there was more music in the pipeline it meant that Allan went out very much as he had lived in a spirit of innovation collaboration and exploration he would routinely step outside of the AFR beat Zone but he never lost grip of his roots something that was summed up perfectly in 2017 when he released a tribute to Al Blakey and the Jazz Messengers on Blue Note no less putting a brilliant afro be spin on some classic jazz [Music] tunes when Allan did pass the tributes were uniformly glowing flea basis for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and a past collaborator called him one of the greatest drummers to ever walk this Earth Jeff Mills said he was the best drummer who ever lived whereas another collaborator the vocalist Angelique kidjo said Alan changed the history of African music but it was Alan himself who summed up the the best in his autobiography I still want to play something impossible something that I never played before he wrote that's what I'm after [Applause] [Music] thanks so much for watching the video let us know in the comments below your thoughts on Tony Allen and his career and do give us a like And subscribe if you enjoyed the content cheers [Music]

Channel: Off Beat

Views: 79,432

Keywords: music, video essay, theory, analysis, video, essay, stewart copeland, drumming, off beat, offbeat, steve gadd, Tony Allen, Drummer, Afrobeat, Musician, Nigerian Music, Fela Kuti, Jazz, Percussionist, Rhythm, Drumming Techniques, Musical Innovator, Legacy, African Music, Beat Patterns, Drumming Styles, Collaborations, Musical Influences, Groove, Polyrhythms, Drumming Legends, Drum Solo, Fusion Music, nigeria

Id: 9RDfvRIYBrc

Length: 11min 25sec (685 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 19 2024