Tony Allen

Tony Allen - Secret Agent (2009)

mp3 256kbps | 112MB

The drummer Tony Allen helped create the sounds of Afro-beat. With his solo recordings, however, Allen has refused to remain stagnant, incorporating dub and avant-garde hip-hop influences into his modern African dance music.
Raw and uncut, foursquare in the roots Afrobeat tradition, Secret Agent has all the ingredients that combine to make the style so special. Fat, full-throated, hard riffing horns, nagging tenor guitars, jazz- and funk-informed saxophone and trumpet solos, effervescent chicken-shack keyboards, lyrics rich in folk metaphors and proverbs—some of which confront state corruption and oppression, Kuti's most frequent targets, still alive and toxic in Nigeria today—call and response vocals, and, of course, energising everything around it, Allen's magnificent drumming.

It's no surprise that Tony Allen's new album does nothing to dim his reputation as one of the world's greatest drummers. He's the personification of subtlety, leading from the back and carefully pushing and prodding the music, but doing this so cleverly that half the time people don't even notice he's there. He's certainly a man whose four limbs operate independently, setting up cross- and counter-rhythms that add extra levels of texture and complexity to the music. On Secret Agent, recorded in his native Lagos, he's joined by a number of guests (including five different vocalists), but the core musicians working with him are producer Fixi, who contributes several instruments, and Cameroonian guitarist Claude Dibongue, who works well in this framework. It's largely Afrocentric, and definitely political, in the best tradition of Allen's late employer, Fela Kuti. Allen himself contributes vocals to the opening and closing tracks, showing he's more than a drummer, even if his voice is low-key. That he plays so well is remarkable. That he does it like this when he's almost 70 is amazing. <AMG>

1. Secret Agent (5:20)
2. Ijo (5:13)
3. Swift (4:49)
4. Celebrate (7:53)
5. Ayenlo (4:57)
6. Busybody (4:34)
7. Pariwo (5:52)
8. Nina Lowo (5:43)
9. Atuwaba (0:49)
10. Alutere (3:43)
11. Elewon Po (5:43)
12. Elewon Po (Instrumental) [Bonus Track] (5:39)

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linkovi provjereni 23.11.2010. od Millaa