WHEN MONTGOMERY COUNTY'S Michael Shereikis was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Central African Republic in the early 90s, he was fascinated by the continent's pop music, especially the Afrobeat music of Nigeria. The guitarist eventually joined the Ivory Coast band Zieti and upon returning to the States formed his own Afrobeat band, Chopteeth. In 2008 the 13-member troupe released its first album, "Afrofunk Big Band," and won the Washington Area Music Association's Wammie award for best world music group.
With five horns and three percussionists, this dance band is designed to be experienced live, and the album is more a souvenir of those shows than a major statement of its own. The musicians -- borrowed from such local groups as the Junkyard Saints, the All Mighty Senators, Rumba Club, 2 Funkin' Heavy, Locura, Zeala, Havana Select and Fertile Ground -- hold their own with such guests as the Malian ngoni virtuoso Cheick Hamala Diabaté (on "Wili Nineh") and Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars (on "Weigh Your Blessings").
Chopteeth pays tribute to its hero Fela Kuti by remaking his song "Fogo Fogo," but the Americans can never hope to match the effortless groove of the original Nigerians. In fact, the album is most interesting when Chopteeth departs from its role models and throws in such curveballs as a bebop trumpet solo, a Cuban percussion fill or a rock guitar break. That is most obvious on "Dog Days," which opens with Mark Gilbert's Rahsaan Roland Kirk-like solo on tenor sax and builds into an organ-guitar jam reminiscent of New Orleans' Meters.
By Geoffrey Himes
01/16/09 >> 
