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To understand the music on Tony Oladipo Allen’s CD Secret Agent we have to go back, briefly, to early 1960s Nigeria.
Its main creator was multi-instrumentalist Fela Kuti who experimented with different forms of music of the time.
By the 70s it had included Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, funky rhythms incorporating percussion and vocal styles. Kuti used it to revolutionise musical structures as well as the political context of his native Nigeria.
Allen’s place in Afrobeat’s history comes from him playing for 15 years with Kuti as a percussionist – a kit drummer. Kuti once said, “Without Tony Allen there would be no Afrobeat.”
Unlike many Afrobeat contemporaries he’s written his music through the rhythmic ears of a drummer, drawing on four styles – highlife, soul / funk, jazz and Nigerian trad drumming, As a sideshow, Allen, now 68, has more recently become a member of The Good The Bad And The Queen with Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn.
Secret Agent, his debut for World Circuit Records sees him continue the Afrobeat tradition, at least lyrically – protesting and all that – but the music has significantly become more cross-over orientated without losing it’s original spark and ethos. He uses five guest singers with Allen singing on only two tracks – the title track and Elewon Po.
There’s a whopping jazz-funk groove propelled by huge brass blast on the opener Secret Agent. Going on too, is a deep 70s soul thing (or is it thang?). It could be that Isaac Hayes is smiling down on this.
Ijo is a massive call to dance. The edgy brass has elements of sound-tracking Blaxploitation films, a real throw-back to the early 70s.
It’s not all dance grooves, as the delicious and cool vibe of Switch will testify. The guitar solo is sublime, and the girlie vocals give it a distinct contemporary urban R&B feel.
The funk radar hits overload on the lush groove of Ayenlo which has a dazzling brass section and trumpet solo right out of the modern jazz scene. Driven again by an urgent but understated beat, his international band hits a real swing on Busybody and there’s a delicate French flavour ghosting the entire song.
Traditional folk proverbs pop-up on the uplifting Nina Lowo (money is to be spent) and the more indigenous sounding a capella Atuwaba (no matter if things are bad, they’ll get better).
Finishing as it started, Elewon Po comes with a heavy funk groove and wiry 70s guitar riff and those brass interludes that trademark Afrobeat to perfection.
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Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.