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This article originally appeared in the “Riverfront Times.”

The musical legacy left by Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti after his 1997 death is so dense and fruitful that his style continues to germinate around the world. The mere existence of the Chicago Afrobeat Project is proof of this. The group came together in 2002, and since then has embraced a two-fold aim: to make people dance (which isn’t hard, given infectious polyrhythms and blistering horn interplay) and to spread the word about Fela and the music he created. But while the CAbP certainly pays tribute to Afrobeat’s founding father, it isn’t a tribute act: The band writes its own songs based around funky keyboards, charging horn lines and talking drums, thus keeping the music vibrant and vital.

This article originally appeared in “The Red and Black.”

For a type of music that originated in Nigeria, Africa, Afro-beat has come a long way to have reached the Chicago, Ill., area. Now the jive is heading south, as the Chicago Afrobeat Project comes back to Athens’ own Georgia Theatre.

Drummer Marshall Greenhouse said the tour would start in Athens due to the good experience they had playing here last summer.

This article originally appeared in the L.A. Weekly.

Describing most world music is like trying to explain the difference between indigo and violet to a blind man. Not so the Chicago Afrobeat Project, who were born out of loft parties in downtown Chicago in 2002. Their unique array of multiple bassists, saxophonists, drummers and assorted dancers (subject to availability) traces roots down to Nigerian Afrobeat firebrand Fela Kuti, Afro-French funk cyclone Max B. and the Nubian joy supreme of Ali Hassan Kuban with relentlessly quantum and upbeat rhythms woven into a vast quilt of jazz-funk-folk history. They mesh tonight with Rhythm Roots All-Stars, a kindred 10-tet whose Sunday jams at Temple Bar have featured Davey Chegwidden, Pancho Tomaselli, Double G, Woody Aplanalp, Aloe Blacc and others since 1999. Prepare yourself for a musical shout second only to Conrad Bain’s in intensity and passion. (David Cotner)