{"id":976676,"date":"2020-04-30T16:48:59","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T22:48:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=992588"},"modified":"2020-04-30T16:48:59","modified_gmt":"2020-04-30T22:48:59","slug":"tony-allen-pioneering-afrobeat-drummer-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/music-news\/tony-allen-pioneering-afrobeat-drummer-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Allen, Pioneering Afrobeat Drummer, Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tony Allen<\/a>, the pioneering drummer who helped defined Afrobeat during his tenure with Fela Kuti, died Thursday. Rolling Stone<\/em> has confirmed Allen\u2019s death, yet a cause of death was not immediately available. <\/span>Sahara Reporters first reported<\/a> that Allen died in his now-native Paris, France.<\/span><\/p>\n

A self-taught drummer who didn\u2019t pick up the sticks until his late teens, Allen helped revolutionize the art of drumming as a member of Kuti\u2019s Africa 70 outfit. The Lagos, Nigerian-born Allen first began performing alongside Kuti when both were sidemen in the African nation\u2019s jazz circuit; by mid-decade, Allen served as drummer in Kuti\u2019s \u201cKoola Lobitos\u201d jazz band, which later morphed into Africa 70.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a member of Africa 70, Allen appeared on classic Kuti albums like 1973\u2019s Gentleman<\/em>, 1975\u2019s Expensive Shit<\/em> and the Afrobeat legend\u2019s most enduring work, 1976\u2019s Zombie<\/em>. Each release featured Allen\u2019s innovative, hypnotic polyrhythmic grooves. \u201cWithout Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat,\u201d Kuti once said.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to his solo work, Allen was known for his collaborations with Damon Albarn: Allen was a member of The Good, The Bad and the Queen alongside Albarn and the Clash\u2019s Paul Simonon and the Verve\u2019s Simon Tong, with that band releasing a pair of albums, a self-titled 2007 LP and 2018\u2019s Merrie Land<\/em>. Allen, Albarn and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea \u2014 under the moniker Rocket Juice & The Moon \u2014 also released a collaborative album in 2012.<\/span><\/p>\n

In recent years, Allen reconnected with his jazz roots, recording a tribute EP for his \u201chero\u201d Art Blakey<\/a> and teaming up with Jeff Mills for 2018\u2019s Tomorrow Comes the Harvest<\/em><\/a>. Earlier this year, Allen released Rejoice<\/em>, a collaboration with late South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome drummers don\u2019t know what it means to play soft, it\u2019s not in their book,\u201d Allen told The Guardian<\/em><\/a> in 2016. \u201cI know I can make my drums bring the house down if I have to. But I know how to make it subtle. You listen to it flowing like a river.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a developing story<\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tony Allen, the pioneering drummer who helped defined Afrobeat during his tenure with Fela Kuti, died Thursday. Rolling Stone has confirmed Allen\u2019s death, yet a cause of death was not immediately available. Sahara Reporters first reported that Allen died in his now-native Paris, France. A self-taught drummer who didn\u2019t pick up the sticks until his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-976676","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 06:11:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KFMU Solar Powered Radio","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=976676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976676\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=976676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=976676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kfmu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=976676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}