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This article by Mike Nikolich originally appeared on CHIRP.

As a teenager, I began listening to African stations via shortwave radio, a hobby I still enjoy today. Through this medium, I discovered West African artists like King Sunny Ade, Malian guitar virtuoso Ali Farka Touré and Nigerian superstar Fela Kuti.

Throughout the late 1980’s and 1990’s, my wife and I were regulars at the legendary Equator Club, near Broadway and Lawrence, and we had the chance to see many of these wonderful artists up close and personal.
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This article by Jason Parker Quinton originally appeared on Exclaim!

The righteous assertions of Afrobeat’s sonic revolution are most present in our culture as polyrhythms that are pervasive in genres from pop to hip-hop.

This record by the venerable Chicago Afrobeat Project continues their legacy of releasing music true to the tradition of Fela Kuti while including pieces of blues, jazz, hip-hop and other strands that inflect the sound of the Windy City. For this magnificent collage, they were astute to hire Kuti collaborator and versatile beatsmith Tony Allen. His percussion keeps the sound rooted deep in Africa, as the gang of talented Americans ably change lanes from the traditional to the avant-garde, cruising confidently on timeless grooves.
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This article originally appeared on World Beat International.

Pizza and music; one ultimately edible and one possibly edifying, both consumed in great quantities around North America. And, every US major city tries to put it own spin on both. You have your New York style big slice, your Chicago deep dish, Philadelphia tomato pie, St. Louis thin crust or Los Angeles … whatever the weird they throw on crust and call pizza. I’m getting to a point here, bear with me. Afrobeat has become similarly commodious as pizza, and regional variations are making their way into the musical mix. Again, Brooklyn Afrobeat is different from DC Afrobeat, from East LA Afrobeat from Austin Afrobeat. Chicago Afrobeat Project puts its city’s stamp on the groove.
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