This article originally appeared on Vita.mn.
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When: Ended 05/10/14
Together for over a decade, inspired by the late great Fela Kuti, the Chicago Afrobeat Project offers very big music for a pretty small room this week. You may have seen this group backing Fela’s wonderful drummer, Tony Allen, at the Cedar Cultural Center last summer. They’ve also backed Fela’s son, Seun Kuti, in the Windy City, and performed with other Chicago jazz, blues and rock heavyweights, including: Jeff Parker (of Tortoise); Howard Levy (of Bela Fleck & The Flecktones); Paul Wertico (of The Pat Metheny Group); and Sugar Blue (of “Miss You” fame). So, the Chicago Afrobeat Project obviously keeps good company. More importantly, they keep a mighty groove going, whether playing Nigerian music or unlikely covers — would you believe an Afrobeat treatment of System Of a Down’s “B.Y.O.B.”?
Tom Surowicz