Jeff Mills & Tony Allen [Plus Fela Kuti] - Afrobeat and Techno? Yes Please.
Sitting round listening to music with Dad is a joy. If there's anything that's gonna shift his focus from the pain he's suffering in his cancer screwed lung, it's some tunes. He constantly suprises me with what's in his playlist. This time it's this album which I've never heard of but I really love.
![image.png](https://images.hive.blog/768x0/https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/riverflows/242NsdouTqWsrqhWcppi3KmXtrFjjBYJ9hZLtzFkt8A9YCL4Yoy6qAmvFS4d1DNXQiZgA.png)
Jeff Mills & Tony Allen
I'm not sure if you know of Jeff Mills who founded Underground Resistance, the electric Detroit outfit/techno collective that came out with some pretty classic dance tunes in the early 90's. Bells was one of those classics. Jamie's a massive fan and even has an UR t-shirt like the middle aged kool kat his is. It's an iconic techno tune and if you don't love it maybe techno is not for you.
Anyway, I wasn't listening to techno with Dad, though I'm definitely going to play Bells for him just so he gets it. As I've said before, he's pretty open minded. What I was listening to was a collab between him and Tony Allen, who's the drummer for Fela Kuti, the afrobeat band. Check this song by Fela Kuti - Zombie - which was a massive political protest back in the 1970's, using the metaphor of zombies to criticize Nigerian soldiers, portraying them as mindless automatons blindly following orders. The whole album was thought to have ended up with his mother being killed and the destruction of his commune by the military. The album itself always ends up on 'best of' lists of the 1970's. Pretty classic. With this tune wait til about 5 minutes in before they even start singing. It's a freaking awesome song. I read a commen on the Youtube clip that said he said it to 2/4-4/4 time, which is the marching tempo of armies everywhere. That's pretty subversive. The link here comes up as unavailable but it might work in your country, otherwise find it on Spotify here.
Anyway, I'm finally back to Tony Allen - apparently without him, Kuti said, there would have been no Afrobeat, and Brian Eno said he was perhaps the greatest drummer that ever lived.
So anyway, with these two dudes, no bloody wonder I really, really loved listening to this album with my old man. Do yourself a favour and go listen to the whole thing. A collab between these two can only be great.
With Love,
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This music is a nice treat thanks for sharing. The 2nd doesn't play in Cananaba :). I'll have to find it on Spotify.
Yeah that's a shame, Spotify to the rescue x
Nice one, going to check out this album now. The lads both sound worth listening to, and not familiar with either. Don't know much music from either genre tbh, but like what I hear here 👍
Lots of love to your Dad ❤️
Hopefully the tunes continue to comfort him and give him some escape from life's cruel meander
Hope you enjoy the album. Jamie was massive Detroit techno fan in the 90s in his DJ days so Jeff Mills was one of his heroes. I was never into Afro Beat but the more I listen these days the more I recognize what an important part of musical history it is and have more of an ear for it now..
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Aw, man, I'm sorry to hear about your dad. It's really nice that you can share some music with him to take his mind off of things. Fun music, too. Your dad sounds like a pretty cool human!
aaahhh just saw the thumbnail on your blog and recognised Jeff Mills :)
ye ye "The Bells" got goosebumps just from the title :D
been on his event in our capital year 1999 for the 1st time... and a couple more wonderful parties ;)
thanks for surprising me!
may this blessing vibes soothe your father and uplifts him!
say Hi to Jamie! ;)
i think i know it from somewhere! very familiar sounding...