Afrobeat Drumming Yellow Fever 1975 – afrobeat on fire

Hello there

I recently came upon a great article about Tony’s art, it mentioned him like:

“… Tony Allen created his own, immediately identifiable musical creole, a language that redefined the sound and rhythms of the instrument across multiple genres and eras. Miles famously said that the essence of music inhabited the “space between the notes.” In a similar vein, Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn explained that what made Tony a singular musician was his ability to create space, “the space of Tony… to allow other things to inhabit the mind.” Adding a fourth axis to the three dimensions of space, Yale University Professor Michael Veal, co-author of his autobiography Tony Allen: An Autobiography of the Master Drummer of Afrobeat, talks of Tony’s remarkable ability to “play with the time continuum,” in a manner would leave the listener suspended “between his high hat and his downbeat… just cast out in this parallel universe, waiting for Tony to call you back.” …

Well just like Baba Tony said “There is no end!” and I always feel like moving on my way to get the vibes and at least getting a little close to feel the beat of Master’s incomparable touché…

Here is my play-along track from my second book about afrobeat https://afrobeatdrumming.com/product/…

It consists of covering rhythm section walking by Fela Kuti’s tune Yellow Fever (1975 © – Afrodisia)

*Here is the full version of the article I mentioned above… https://www.missingpiecegroup.com/ton… Wondering how do you feel when you try to play along or simply and deeply listening with Tony’s art of drumming?

Tony Allen – An Autobiography of the Master Drummer of Afrobeat by Michael E. Veal (Part 2)

Fela Kuti’s High-life Jazz Band

“…Tony Allen was at the epicenter of Fela’s music, from their mutual fascination with straight-ahead jazz in the early 1960s, through the swinging, good-time days of dance-band highlife in post-independence Ghana and Nigeria at mid-decade, through the funk and Black Power epiphanies in Los Angeles at decade’s end, to Fela’s countercultural “Kalakuta Republic” in 1970s, and on into the early years of African music’s global presence in the “world beat” market of 1980s and 1990s. Their story began as one of friendship and collaboration, and later degenerated through a series of misunderstandings that provided yet another vivid example of the destructive impact of fame and the sobering effects of personal tragedy. Continue Reading →

Tony Allen – An Autobiography of the Master Drummer of Afrobeat by Michael E. Veal

Do you wonder about Tony Allen? Are you interested with afrobeat and drumming? If your answer “yes!” for these questions than I highly recommend you to get this great autobiographical book of Tony Allen; “Tony Allen – An Autobiography of the Master Drummer of Afrobeat” by Michael E. Veal. Book contains most important eras of Tony Allen, you can read lots of details about how Allen started on the drums, his meeting with Fela and all this crazy happenings around a innovator of afrobeat drumming, while he is struggling with Nigerian army, Fela’s dominant character as a orchestra leader and more…

I would like to share you introduction of this great material of Tony Allen, with the powerful words of Michael Veal, I believe you realize more about afrobeat, afrobeat drumming and of course Tony Oladipo Allen… Continue Reading →

Tony’s contribution on Afrobeat music

Here is a short passage from the Tony Allen’s autobiographical book (Michael Veal’s “TONY ALLEN an autobiography of the master drummer of afrobeat). You will read how Tony Allen creates his unique afrobeat patterns with the great orchestra of Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s Africa 70 and how people reacted this unique patterns of afrobeat on the times that they are being played actively on Fela’s Shrime. 

“… With all those tecniques I had brought back, it was too much for these drummers! Plus all those subtle things I was doing inside the groove matched up beautifully with that what Kofi was doing on the congas. Kofi played the congas with his hands and with sticks as well, and he was a master at getting all the different tones out of the drums. He played on the head, he played on the side of the drum, and he played on the rim. We sounded great together.

Continue Reading →