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Concert Preview
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The New York Times, Concert Preview >>
Snappy little songs suit an era of short attention spans and impatient Web-surfing. But they can't substitue for music with the leisure to follow a tangent or let a groove sink in. This week brings two annual events that savor the sprawl: the Jammy Awards, where the trophies are an excuse to gather jam bands and guests in new combinations, and the Great African Ball, which presents the great Nigerian bandleader King Sunny Ade in an extended, African-style performance.
Mr. Ade's juju music is funk rooted in Yoruba rhythms and deploying layer on layer of rhythm guitars, drums, percussion, voices and the hovering swoop of a pedal-steel guitar. Onstage, his songs become seamless suites that might hold a dance contest for band members or a breakdown that lets listeners hear how each instrument adds to the prismatic groove. In his first New York concert since 1999, he will be joined by Prince Obi Osabede, who sings highlife music, another big-band African style. Mr. Ade is from Nigeria's Yoruba people, and Mr. Osabede from the Igbo; this will be a kind of summit meeting. Friday from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. at Roseland Ballroom, 239 West 52nd Street, (212) 777-1224; $40 in advance, $50 Friday.
-Jon Pareles 04/24/05
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