Sunday, September 27, 2015

TONY ALLEN (London Royal Festival Hall, 13/09/15)



Although the Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer is the main-billed artist tonight, this turned out to be more of a full-on collaboration between some of Africa's greatest musical luminaries, including kora masters Toumani and Sidike Diabate, Francophone rapper Oxmo and Senegalese baritone Baaba Maal. Inevitably Damon Albarn also makes an appearance, but he thankfully he didn't bugger things up too much. Perhaps it wasn't as much of a dance party as I was hoping for (at least until the last quarter, where the audience are finally coerced into standing up) but damn, watching Toumani and Sidike in full flow whilst Tony Allen and his band provided the afro-funk was a very special experience for all concerned.

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