Antibalas

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Antibalas

The dozen or so members of New York City's Antibalas have included only a few Africans since the band was formed in the late 1990s, but their music has African roots. Formerly known as the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, the group adapted the Afrobeat style pioneered by Nigerian musician Fela Kuti to a modern American setting. Remaining true to both the musical and political spirit of Afrobeat, they laid down extended dance jams while writing lyrics that aimed at empowerment and social critique. After gaining a reputation that spread as far afield as Denmark, the band broadened its sound to include a variety of African-American elements with its 2007 album Security.

The Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra began to take shape in 1998 in the New York borough of Brooklyn. The initial stimulus for its formation was the death of Fela Kuti in 1997; saxophonist Martin Perna wanted to start a band that would carry forward Kuti's legacy. He had first discovered Kuti in 1991 after hearing samples of his music on hip-hop recordings and noticing its dense, high-energy sound. Antibalas members had played in other New York bands, including King Changó, the Soul Providers, and the Daktaris. Several early musicians in the group were of Latin American descent, and they took the name Antibalas, meaning "bulletproof" in Spanish.

The group quickly landed gigs in New York clubs, and they launched a weekend dance event called Africalia to give themselves a chance to play frequent live shows. Although they have recorded a number of studio albums, the heart of the Antibalas experience has always resided in the group's kinetic live appearances. "Historically, we've always played long shows and long songs, like 15 minutes, 20 minutes," the group's former drummer Phil Ballman told Anastasia Pantsios of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "You can reach almost a trancey kind of level if it goes on and on." Antibalas has tried to capture the "in-person experience" by releasing several live albums, including Live in New York: Summer 1999 and a series of live Antibalas concerts from the year 2003 circulated on the Rockslide label. Their first studio album, Liberation Afro Beat: Vol. 1, appeared in 2001, and Talkatif was released the following year.

The Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra reached a peak of 14 members—a size at which few ensembles manage to survive for long. But Antibalas flourished as word of their marathon concert jams spread past Brooklyn, first through the northeastern United States and then beyond. They toured Japan in 2004, and their rise coincided with the growth of huge outdoor summer festivals, where their energetic rhythm-and-horn sound was perfectly suited to the environment. The group appeared at Tennessee's Bonnaroo festival, Bumbershoot in Seattle, the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in the southern California desert, the Roskilde Festival in Denmark, and the largest outdoor music event of all, England's Glastonbury Festival. By the mid-2000s the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra was playing about 100 shows a year.

The backgrounds of the group's early members varied from Latin American to African American, Nigerian, Russian-Asian, and white American. It was easy for music journalists to think of Antibalas as having a fusion sound, but Perna rejected characterizations of Antibalas as a jam band. Their intricate horn arrangements, he pointed out, were carefully planned and structured. Afrobeat, he also noted, had influences from funk and jazz to begin with, and the various elements that Antibalas added to the style fit comfortably within its tradition of incorporating new materials. "It's a very distinct musical idiom," Perna told Gerald M. Gay of the Arizona Daily Star.

Another key aspect of the Antibalas sound also had African roots: their music was consistently political. Fela Kuti had been a thorn in the side of Nigeria's authoritarian governments, and as political divisions deepened in the United States in advance of the 2004 presidential elections, social critique came to the forefront on Who Is This America?, released on the Ropeadope label. The 14-minute title track, written by guitarist Gabe Roth, termed the United States a "state of confusion/state of commotion/state of individualism." Antibalas took aim at U.S. president George W. Bush, but the group did not exempt itself from criticism, alluding to its own all-male makeup on the track "Sister." The group's promotion of African music itself had a political dimension, Perna pointed out. "America is a European-influenced country, but it's also an African- influenced country, whether we acknowledge it or not," he told Rob Thomas of Wisconsin's Capital Times.

Changes came in the form of several new members and a slightly smaller lineup (the band's MySpace page listed 12 musicians as of the fall of 2007), a new name (now simply "Antibalas") and, most important, a new style. Their 2007 release Security, recorded for the major independent label ANTI, offered a real mixture of musical influences. Antibalas still had a brass section that could cut through the crowd noise of a thousand dancers, vocalist Amayo remained, and the Afrobeat element was by no means eliminated. But under the direction of producer John McEntire, the music, in the words of All Music Guide's Thom Jurek, was "stretched to the breaking point to include organic funk, electronic sounds, hip-hop rhythms, and a wicked backbeat on some tracks that could whip out the kinks in a tight spine better than a chiropractor."

Robin Denselow of London's Guardian noted that "to his [Kuti's] songs they have now added a whole batch of other styles, from Latin and dub to what sound like folk-influenced classical themes—but all still relying on massed brass work and percussion." Antibalas undertook a new U.S. tour in 2007. By that time, a new interest in African music was flowering in many places, and Antibalas had built a strong following and a multidimensional sound that put it on top of a powerful wave.

For the Record …

Members include: Amayo , vocals and percussion; Victor Axelrod , keyboards; Eric Biondo , trumpet; Stuart Bogie , tenor saxophone; Marcus Farrar , shekere; Marcos Garcia , guitar; Aaron Johnson , trombone; Jordan McLean , trumpet; Nick Movshon , bass; Luke O'Malley , guitar; Martin Perna , baritone saxophone, founder; Chris Vatalaro , drums.

Formed 1998 in Brooklyn, NY; released debut album, Liberation Afro Beat, Vol. 1, 2001; released Talkatif, 2002; toured Japan, 2004; appeared at major outdoor music festivals, including Bonnaroo (Manchester, TN), Bumbershoot (Seattle, WA), Coachella Valley (Indio, CA), Glastonbury (Glastonbury, U.K.), and Roskilde (Roskilde, Denmark); signed to ANTI label, released Security, 2007.

Addresses: Record company—ANTI Records, 2798 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026. Website—Antibalas Official Website: http://www.antibalas.com.