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The Chicago AfroBeat Project’s baritone sax man Garrick Smith is looking forward to coming back to the Utah Arts Festival with his band this weekend.

“Last time we were there, we had a blast,” said Smith, calling from his home base in Chicago. “It was a really good time with a fantastic crowd. They danced their butts off.”

But then, Smith enjoys playing art festivals, as much for the opportunity that they give him and his cohorts to soak in a little culture of their own, as well as the opportunity to play for an open-minded crowd.

“These things are not only good for the people who come to witness it, but we also get to see things we never see. Sometimes, on the road, you don’t necessarily see much outside of the van. It’s very nice to just spend a little time, take in a little culture, and take in some of the acts. Plus, you never know who you’ll run into at these things.”

One time, Smith remembers, they met a Latin band out of Columbia, Mo.

“And I hate to say this, but we were like, ‘Eh, they’ll be passable.’ But no — they were killer. They brought it for real! Those kinds of surprises are wonderful.”

The Chicago AfroBeat Project plays on Sunday, the final day of the festival.

Fela and company

The Chicago AfroBeat Project came to be about 10 years ago. At that time, AfroBeat, which is loosely defined as a combination of Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, call-and-response and chants, was not well-known in this country.

Nor was its founding father, Nigerian Fela Kuti, who coined the term after a tour in the United States in 1970.

“It really was a project, like the name said, at the beginning,” said Smith. “People were kind of coming in and out of the group, depending who was around. As we started to play and write some more tunes, the lineup kind of coalesced. We also have some outlying members, and some percussion players who we can add in. But then, that is the beauty of being in a music city like Chicago. You have multiple, quality players to choose from, capable of playing at the level we need them to — and often at short notice.”

Smith was turned on to Kuti and AfroBeat by the band’s trombonist, Mark Thompson.

“I wish I could say that I was listening to this before everyone, but I wasn’t,” said Smith. “I was listening to Brazilian stuff, and some reggae and ska, but I hadn’t really touched on the African diaspora. … I wasn’t hip to Fela yet. When Mark turned me onto him. I was amazed, and I could not believe I was not familiar with this stuff.”

Times have changed since. From a handful of American AfroBeat bands scattered across the country have arisen many, in most urban areas, said Smith. And in 2009, a Broadway musical called “Fela!” celebrating the musician’s life, was a roaring success.

“You know what I think is great about these days?” said Smith. “You can actually show people the YouTube videos instead of just going, ‘Dude, this is so awesome.’ No — now you can go, ‘Watch, and be amazed.’ ”

AfroBeat mash

The band went in a bit different direction for its new album, “Nyash UP!,” which they will be bringing with them to Salt Lake City.

“What we have here is a bunch of songs of other genres done in the AfroBeat style,” said Smith. “And yes, some of them are actual mash-ups.”

For instance, the band musically joined Kuti’s “Just Like That” with Radiohead’s “I Might Be Wrong.”

“We also did ‘What’s Goin’ On,’ the Marvin Gaye song. We did a Talking Heads tune, and we got some free jazz on there.”

Smith said there have been some changes in the music since they were last in Salt Lake City.

“We’ve added a little bit of hip-hop. We’ve added an MC, Square Black, out in front, and there might be a little more indie rock mixed in there, too.

“AfroBeat, for us, is really more of a springboard. One in a while, we throw in a Fela cover, but more often than not, we are really trying to come up with something original with the style.”

PREVIEW

WHO: Chicago AfroBeat Project

• WHEN: 8:30 p.m. Sunday, June 24
• WHERE: Utah Arts Festival, Amphitheater Stage, Library Square at 400 East and 400 South.
• TICKETS: Included with admission to the festival, which is $10, $5/weekday lunchtime admission, $5/seniors, free/age 12 and younger, $30/four-day pass

This article originally appeared in the South Bend Tribune.

The band’s name establishes that Chicago Afrobeat Project is from Chicago and that it plays afrobeat music. But, that’s only part of the story.

According to Chicago Afrobeat Project singer Antar Jackson — his stage name is Squairblaq — Chicago, as a musical influence, figures significantly in the framework of the group.

“Chicago is the birthplace of modern gospel music, the birthplace of house music,” Jackson says. “It is the childhood home of the blues, rock ‘n’ roll and jazz and soul. Actually, it is the birthplace of soul music, if you consider Sam Cooke the father, which we do. All of those influences have made their way into our music because it is what we love and what we grew up listening to.”

Chicago Afrobeat Project derives its distinctive sound by blending avant-garde jazz and rock elements with the signature style of afrobeat.

Afrobeat, which combines such recognized American music forms as rock, jazz and funk with the chanted vocals and complicated, interacting rhythms of traditional Yoruba music and such other African musical styles as highlife and juju, was created in the 1960s by Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti.

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Kuti not only revolutionized world music with afrobeat, but politically as well, because he used his lyrics as social criticism to effect social change in his native Nigeria.

This explains why the members of Chicago Afrobeat Project are so passionate about the music, and why Chicago is the perfect home for the band.
“This city really, really loves afrobeat music,” Jackson says. “The city has a great dance music culture and a great love for political message. That makes it a great place for the type of music that afrobeat is.”

The city of Chicago has shown its love for the group by bestowing the award for Best African Artist at the Chicago Music Awards for the last five years.

Chicago Afrobeat Project performed at the official after-party for the opening night of the Tony Award-winning musical “FELA!” which had an extended run at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago last month.

The group also opened for Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 last month at the House of Blues in Chicago. Seun is the youngest son of Fela and Egypt 80 was one of Fela’s former bands.

Chicago Afrobeat Project was formed in 2002 by guitarist Dave Glines and keyboardist Kevin Ford, gathering Chicago musicians of diverse backgrounds to form this music collective devoted to afrobeat.

“All of the guys just had a love for the music and a love for the culture,” Jackson says. “There was a great void in Chicago at that time for the people that love that music. It was just an organic thing.”

In the band’s nearly decade-long existence, it has earned the respect and admiration of many Chicago musicians, such as Howard Levy of Bela Fleck’s Flecktones, guitar virtuoso Fareed Haque, jazz drummer Paul Wertico and Tortoise’s Jeff Parker, who have performed live with Chicago Afrobeat Project.

The band has self-released three albums — a self-titled debut (2005), “(A) Move to Silent Unrest” (2007) and “Off the Grid” (2008) — and is preparing to drop its new studio album, “Nyash UP!” in the next couple of months.

“Nyash UP!” — nyash is slang for female buttocks — features Chicago Afrobeat Project’s reinterpretations, or mash-ups, of songs from such artists as Radiohead, Marvin Gaye, System of a Down, Led Zeppelin, Talking Heads and, of course, Fela Kuti.

“It is an album that takes a lot of original songs from different artists and mashes them together,” Jackson says. “For example, we have a tune called ‘I Might Be Wrong Just Like That,’ which combines the Radiohead tune ‘I Might Be Wrong’ with ‘Just Like That’ from Fela Kuti.”

Previous Chicago Afrobeat Project records were mainly instrumental, but with the addition of Jackson three years ago, “Nyash UP!” features vocals on nearly half of the album.

“This new album that is going to be coming out has more vocals than usual,” he says. “It is a really big shift for the band and a direction that we are really happy to be heading into.”

Along with the lyrics from the original versions covered, Jackson says he wrote the lyrics for the new album, and that like much of classic afrobeat, the songs are political in nature.

“The lyrics apply directly to a lot of the struggles that are happening today,” he says.

Chicago Afrobeat Project has anywhere from eight to 15 members, with the larger music collective playing exclusively in Chicago. Dancers from the Muntu Dance Theater of Chicago also will occasionally accompany the band at Chicago shows.

“It is something specifically that we do in Chicago, because it is hard to be sustainable economically when you travel with 15 people,” Jackson says. “We want to make sure that ticket prices are affordable for all of the people that want to come out and see us.”

With only the slimmed-down eight permanent members, Jackson promises that Friday night’s concert at the Golden Gnome will still be an unforgettable experience.

“At our concerts, you really have to come expecting energy,” he says. “There is so much energy from the first song to the last song. Rhythms that just don’t stop and a great human element that can’t be emulated through a DJ or a smaller band.”

In concert

Chicago Afrobeat Project performs with The B.E.A.T. and Infinite Buffalo at 9:30 p.m. Friday at The Golden Gnome, 1902 South Bend Ave., South Bend. Admission is $8. Doors open at 8:30 p.m. Must be 21 or older. For more information, call 574-250-0454 or e-mail finncade@sbcglobal.net.

We’re jazzed around her for the upcoming Seun Kuti show at House of Blues. That doesn’t mean we can’t indulge ourselves in Afrobeat of a local flavor. Chicago Afrobeat Project pays homage to Fela without sounding like a clone of the founder of Afrobeat. Their sound incorporates Afro-Cuban music, Afican high life and straight up jazz to give a refreshing twist to the persistent rhythmic trance of other Afrobeat acts, and their live act has been honed to a razor sharpness through years of gigs.
Chicago Afrobeat Project comes to Martyrs’ for a show tomorrow night at 9:30 p.m. and they’ll be testing out some new songs on stage. Opening for CAbP is Subplane. Tickets are $10 in advance; $12 at the door.