For some, the festival circuit is a place to wind down a career, to pick up on gigs that pay well and guarantee a decent audience every night.  For the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra – who’ll fill Market Square with the spirit of resistance as part of Jazzfest Friday night – festivals are the most direct link to the people. 

     “We are in a unique position of being invited to perform all over the country and the world, and it is our responsibility to speak about things as we see them,” says founding member Martin Perna, just back from a busy weekend at Tennessee’s Bonnaroo Music Festival.  “As we see free speech crushed in the United States, whether it be through censorship, the fear of being boycotted or blackballed, or through the consolidation of newspapers and TV’s, we have to take the opportunity to be media ourselves.”

     Antibalas (translation: bulletproof) formed in 1998 as a New York-area collective of Afro-Americans, Africans, Asian-Americans and Whites, all dedicated to perfecting Afrobeat, a style of music pioneered by the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.  It’s a genre tragically misunderstood because it transcends simple labels.  As such, it’s best to let Perna explain it.  “It is music that you can make love to, dance to, celebrate life to, or get inspired to revolt,” he says.  “All of these elements are important in music, and Afrobeat has them all…it is hilarious sometimes to hear the reference points that people draw on when they try to describe the music.  Stuff like, ‘Like reggae, with some Latin beats over top,’ but it just goes to illustrate how vast the music world is and how easy it is to be ignorant of so much of the great stuff that is out there.”

     Antibalas’ mix of rhythms, horns, groove, rallying cries and political spoken word has befuddled as many as it has inspired; it often takes some time for the 12 to 15 piece collective to win over their crowds.  “In some cities, it takes forever to warm up the audience,” admits Perna, “ to have them dancing, to let them know that it is not only okay, but expected to sing back when we sing to them.”