Tony Allen 70: Nigeria 50, at the Barbican

Pax Vobiscum, Pilgrims!

When a gig taking place at the Barbican headlines a Nigerian drumming legend, then subtle and underated are words that need to be removed from the equation.  You can kiss that notion of a quiet performance goodnight. I mean, how can it be a sedated concert when the genre of music in question is Afro-Beat: a riotous, infectious tune of rebellion that would force your butt-checks to rise up and be counted! Throw in the Nigerian contingent as part of the audience and

Yesterday’s show was a double birthday celebration: ‘Uncle’ (You never address an older Nigerian by their first name. NEVER) Tony Allen marking his 7oth birthday and also Nigeria celebrating 50 years of Independence.  So, in no particular order, here are some of the shots from an amazing concert:

Keziah Jones:

Wunmi:

Cheik Lo, Peewee Ellis & Byron Wallon:

Ty:

Eska-Mtungwaz:

Thandiswa:

Jimi Tenor:

The highlight of the night, if I was going to be honest, was Seun Kuti.  If there was ever the chance to see Fela reincarnate, then it would be seeing Seun in action.  All he had to do was start singing a classic, ‘Suffering & Smiling’, and he had the audience eating out of his palm:

All in all, a good night all round.

Food for Thought & Soul: ‘What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?’ Psalm 90:2

© 2010, Akin Aworan. All rights reserved.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 7th, 2010 at 12:29 pm. It is filed under Music from the Roots and tagged with afrobeat, akin, aworan, Barbican, fela, keziah Jones, London, Pixpilgrim, seun kuti, ty, wunmi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.