Tony Allen ,former drummer, composer and songwriter of Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, has passed on. Allen died in Paris, France, on Thursday, April 30.
He was regarded as one of the founders of Afrobeat.Allen was the drummer and musical director of Fela Kuti’s band, Africa ’70, in the 60s and 70s.
Born in Lagos in 1940, Allen taught himself to play drums at the age of 18, drawing inspiration from the US jazz greats Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, as well as contemporary African music. He has attributed his versatility to the need to make a living as a jobbing musician in Lagos in the early 60s. “Latin American, African horns, jazz, highlife … you had to be able to play it all because in the club they asked for it,” he said.
Of his singular style, Allen said: “I try to make my drums sing and turn them into an orchestra. I don’t bash my drums. Instead of bashing, I caress. If you caress your wife, you’ll get good things from your wife; if you beat her, up I’m sure she’ll be your enemy.”
Artists including Flea have paid tribute to Allen on Twitter
The epic Tony Allen, the greatest drummer on earth has left us. What a wildman with a massive, kind and free heart and the deepest one-of-a-kind groove. Fela Kuti did not invent afrobeat, Fela and Tony birthed it… https://instagram.com/p/B_n-BKvhPHt/?igshid=1p2vpk1ptak0j
Fela once stated that, “Without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat.” Allen has also been described by Brian Eno as “perhaps the greatest drummer who ever lived”.
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