Born close to the Seventies thanks to Nigerian musicians Fela Kuti and Toni Allen, Afrobeat is more relevant today than ever. Its fusion of funk, jazz and typical West African call-and-response dynamics, already at the basis of Talking Heads' “world breakthrough”, is the model for a new explosion of styles. For some time now it has been back in vogue in North America with groups such as Antibalas and Souljazz Orchestra, and in recent years nu jazz has been the number one reference for the young and kaleidoscopic London jazz scene.
The compilation guides the exploration of this varied musical constellation, with its continuous rhythmic reinventions and the lightning bursts of wind instruments that make it sound immediately recognisable. It does so starting from the multiple projects of saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings and drummer Tom Skinner, always straddling jazz, urban rhythms and social demands. Sons Of Kemet, Melt Yourself Down, The Comet Is Coming are names well known to music journalism and the independent music public, also thanks to their frequent electronic, psychedelic and post-punk forays and the disruptive energy of their live shows.
But the London scene is much richer, with champion lineups streaming like Kokoroko and Ezra Collective and characters with stimulating paths like the drummer Moses Boyd and the tuba player Theon Cross, always exploring new expressive possibilities. The Afrobeat rebirth is then an inevitable influence for a series of eclectic artists, not strictly attributable to the genre but very ready to integrate its stylistic features into their own sound cosmopolitan. Nubyia Garcia, Nubiyan Twist, Yazz Ahmed, Ill Considered and the veterans Heliocentrics combine a plurality of musical languages, from Afro-Cuban music to spiritual jazz through hip-hop rhythms and nostalgic references, giving life to a new fusion that well represents the cultural diversity of the British capital.
Finally, the selection also takes a look at the numerous international ramifications of the soundoften developed independently and expanded in their own directions. In addition to the aforementioned Antibalas (United States) and Souljazz Orchestra (Canada), the world tour continues with South Africa by Kelektla! (in cahoots with Coldcut), the multi-ethnic Brazil of the Nomade Orquestra, the Japan of the Ajate project (contaminated with music kaguratypical of Shinto shrines). A stop is also planned for Italy, with Luciano Cantone's The Invisible Session (for the occasion alongside Gianluca Petrella) and the Babel-like psychedelia of Lombardy's Al Doum & The Faryds.
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Antonio Santini for SANREMO.FM
