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Afrobeat is source of Anitbalas' Music and Politics
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Tampa Tribune, Afrobeat is source of Anitbalas' Music and Politics >>
Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra often states its political ideals explicitly. Titles such as "War Is a Crime" and "N.E.S.T.A. (Never Ever Submit to Authority)" make that clear.
But the band's greatest influence, the late Nigerian legend Fela Kuti, knew that revolution could be encoded in the music itself. And Antibalas drummer Phil Ballman takes that idea to heart.
"A lot of the most political music I've ever listened to doesn't have any lyrics," Ballman says by telephone from London, Ontario, citing free jazz musicians such as "late period John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor."
"There's no lyrics involved at all but the whole reason behind the music is a search for freedom and also for those lofty ideals of community and personal responsibility, individuality within a group setting," Ballman says.
The New York City-based ensemble, formed in 1998, practices those principles musically - no mean feat for a group that has anywhere from 12 to 16 musicians playing at any one time.
That democratic spirit also helps the band develop its own sound in a genre dominated by Fela's music.
"We just let our individual personalities and influences come through," Ballman says. "Everyone has had so many different playing experiences." Antibalas members come from backgrounds in Latin music as well as jazz, funk and reggae.
"We choose to work as much as possible as a democracy," Ballman says. "We all kind of arrive at consensus decisions. On stage it's the same way. Everyone has their voice and no one voice drowns out the others."
Meshing those influences into a whole took time.
"It's important that everybody maintains their part at the same time because if everyone starts to improvise freely in an inappropriate place then it's gonna just sound like a big mess," Ballman says.
"We learned that really quickly after a few messy sounding shows," Ballman says with a laugh.
04/25/03
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