It’s a rainy December morning when the members of the politically-charged Antibalas gatherin a chic Manhattan apartment to discuss Security, its first new studio album since George W.Bush’s 2004 re-election. Boasting an active lineup of 12 musicians who hail from such scatteredlocations as Austin, London and most of New York’s boroughs, it has become increasingly difficult to round up the entire troupe and, indeed, between rehearsals, the best place to findthe collective all in one place is onstage.
Representing a number of different backgrounds (Hispanic, African-American,African, Jewish) and a wide spectrum of age (the group boasts members bornin the 1950s, ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s), the musicians sitting together could be anyrandom sampling of New Yorkers placed together like contestants on anepisode of Survivor. But when herded into place for one final group shot, thedozen players snap together like pieces in a puzzle, a firm unit molded in theimage of Fela Kuti’s legendary Afro-beat ensembles.
Antibalas’ story begins with Martin Perna, a Hispanic-American born in Philadelphia and raised on American funk and hip-hop. As music caught his ear, politics entered his mind and Perna initially set his sights on a career in international affairs. After hearing a sample in a hip-hop song, he began exploring Afro-beat, a blend of jazz and traditional Yoruba/Nigerian music popularized by Kuti. A fiercely intelligent thinker and band leader, Perna has the ears of a musician but the eyes of a revolutionary. He addresses you directly when he speaks, with the same intensity that guides Antibalas’ music: “We are trying to offer a critical perspective on society through the music and that is the difference between an artist and an entertainer.”
In 1994, Perna relocated to New York and began digging deeper into Afro-beat. He assembled the first incarnation of Antibalas for a show at Harlem’s St. Nick’s Pub in 1998. One day, while walking in Brooklyn, Perna noticed a poster hanging outside a clothing store for a fashion show featuring Nigerian drummers. Asit turns out, the store belonged to his future singer, Amayo, a Nigerian-born martial arts instructor and spiritual beacon who grew up in the same 1970s Lago neighborhood as Fela’s African Shrine nightclub. “It was the Nigerian equivalent of what was going on in American counter culture during the 1960s,” Amayo recalls. “Most teenagers had that subliminal mentality—they were action-driven and wanted to know.”
In its early days, Antibalas consciously avoided commercial venues, instead holding court at a variety of lofts, benefits, block parties, museums and community markets. Over the years,Pern has passed the conductor’s baton to a number of musicians; the post is currently held by saxophonist Stuart Bogie. A jazz buff with roots in New York’s avant-garde scene, Bogie grew upin Chicago’s North Shore suburbs during what he describes as the Windy City’s “John Hughes era.” In 2005 Bogie returned to Chicago with his bandmates to begin work on Security with Tortoise’s John McEntire. “It carries that same weight, but I think it is more refined and certain songs are more topical,” Pernasays. “We name names and talk about political tricks, but we also try to support the soldier as a human being whodoesn’t have much say in his destiny.”
“You see people with good intentions everyday, but you have to live up to those intentions,” Amayo adds. “Somepeople in this band came from nothing, others were born with a silver spoon and some turned that spoon into muchmore. But it’s not about where you came from. It’s about what you do with your intentions.”
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