Afrobeat from Antibalas: Lead Singer Amayo Channels Fela Kuti
Antibalas (Photo: Antibalas.com)
Amayo, as he is known, is lead singer for the New York Afrobeat band Antibalas.
He got his first exposure to the thrill of Afrobeat at the source: In the famous Shrine nightclub of Nigerian Afrobeat king Fela Kuti.
Amayo and his bandmates in Antibalas have just come out with their latest release.
And it’s chock-a-block with that spirit and sound of Fela.
“I think Fela was an amazing dancer,” says Amayo, sharing his thoughts about channeling Fela Kuti on stage.
“For me, being a movement buff, it’s his movements that first attracted me. And movements can express words. You can make your words more effective if you have a movement attached to it. So, if I’m trying to delve into the spirit of Fela, I’m trying to be true to the movement of the word.
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