Amayo from Antibalas Guests with Femi Kuti's Band

Femi Kuti's regular Sunday night performance at the New Africa Shrine featured a special treat last night - vocalist Abraham Amayo from Antibalas sat in with the band during the warm-up set. Antibalas is a Brooklyn, New York based afrobeat orchestra that gained notoriety during the Broadway run of the Fela! musical. Amayo can really sing and he didn't move like an American. I googled him this morning and now it makes sense - he is of Nigerian descent although born in the UK and domiciled in the US. He may be the most capable guest artist I have seen at the Shrine these last few months. His two songs actually received applause from the usually stoic regulars at the Shrine. Have a listen. 

In researching Amayo and Antibalas (a very good afrobeat band, but incontrovertibly a US-based revival band), an irony became apparent - Antibalas made the front page of the New York Times Arts section about a month ago while at the same time, in its home country of Nigeria, afrobeat is virtually nonexistent outside the walls of the New Africa Shrine. Many of the artists and musicians who formed the style are lingering in obscurity and poverty. The NYT article spoke of afrobeat's "momentum" - which must be happening outside of Nigeria because it ain't much happening here. You have to wear big sunglasses, drive a huge car, and do hip-hop to be deemed a successful musician in Nigeria these days. Afrobeat is considered strictly "old school." Once again, the West has 'discovered' and co-opted a unique ethnic art form while back at home, the art form is on its deathbed. 

Catch this quote from the NYT article: “Now every town we go to in the States, Canada or Europe has its own local Afrobeat act,” he [the band's trombonist] said. “Or two or three or four.” Are you kidding me? I'm still looking for one place in Lagos other than the Shrine to hear live afrobeat. With so little interest in playing afrobeat among Nigeria's young people, I wonder if it will survive the decade as living culture in its homeland. Highly questionable. I really don't know what can be done about it since 42.8% of the Nigerian population is under the age of 15, which means they were born after Fela's death and have little or no exposure to his music. May be that afrobeat is something you will only hear from revival bands in Brooklyn in the future.