Tony Allen – Lagos No Shaking 2LP

Description

2021 repress. Honest Jon’s Records reissues this 2006 classic from Afrobeat co-creator and master drummerTony Allen. The much-laudedLagos No Shakingpays tribute to the powerful sounds and rhythms of Allen’s homeland of Lagos, Nigeria, marking a return to the classic percussive stylings which harken back to his seminal contribution toFela Kuti‘sAfrica 70andEgypt 80. This is the real thing — raw and uncut, recorded in Lagos over ten nights with a 20-piece band, including the finest musicians in the city, not least deep horn-blasting fromLekan Animashaun(Baba Ani) andShow Boyfrom the killer Fela line-ups, and the palm-wine veteranFatai Rolling Dollar, who adds his throaty, commanding tones and throbbing agidigbo thumb piano to four tracks. There are the R&B sensibilities ofYinka DaviesandOmololu Ogunleye; andMuritala Adisaadds touches of ewe, a form of spoken praise-singing rooted in ancient Yoruba tradition. But the key element is, of course, Allen’s powerful, yet magnificently relaxed drumming, which keeps everything in perpetual rocking motion, tempering the hard funk edges of classic Afrobeat with earthier Lagosian flavors. Indeed, while the album’s observations on Lagos life are aptly tough and sardonic, this is a warmer, more down-home, perhaps more humane album than anything Fela ever produced. Afro-funk, stone-classic dance music in six-minute chunks.