Afrodizz |
At the end of July in Hamilton, Canada, I had the pleasure of experiencing Afrodizz, an up-and-coming Afrobeat collective based out of Montreal. Their set in Hamilton was driven, funky, and climactic, leaving the half-packed bar dancing till it hurt, further proving that the music of Fela Kuti was alive and thriving within a new generation of musicians.
Lucky for me, three weeks into settling in the UK, Afrodizz were scheduled to pay my new hometown of Leeds a visit, accompanying Femm Nameless, Brooklyn's finest and most successful all-female Afrobeat sextet.
With both bands on the rise within their respective communities and fresh off debut tours in the UK just six months ago, the stage was set for a night filled with dancing and sweating to politically-driven Afro-jazz from across the pond.
The stage was Club Hifi, a quaint little basement right in the middle of the gorgeous Leeds city centre. Specializing in heaping spoonfuls of jazz, funk, reggae, world music, and spoken word, Club Hifi is arguably the tastiest musical melting pot in Leeds, and nothing seemed more inviting on a cold September evening than a tasty entrée of overseas Afrobeat.
Afrodizz opened up the evening at 11 p.m., immediately going into a horn-laced composition that, much like the Hamilton show, brought most of the near sold-out crowd into a fit of dancing. Led by an enigmatic frontman, Afrodizz featured a three-piece horn section alongside two drummers, a bassist and a rhythm guitar player. Unfortunately, from the beginning of their set, the sheer complexity of properly mixing eight musicians plagued the sound man, and their intricate solo work got trapped in the muddy sound emanating from the P.A. In addition, although the band had extremely high energy and consistently demanded the attention of the crowd, their compositions bordered on monotony. Halfway through their set, their once unique blend of Afrobeat became plain and seemingly uninteresting. The band still continually enjoyed themselves while the crowd generally reciprocated, but throughout the hour-long set, they rarely took chances with the melody to dart off the beaten path or produce a more interesting and distinctive style of Afrobeat. While the band played well, their overall mediocrity overpowered their musical bounciness, propelling the evening's excitement towards seeing Femm Nameless and away from the energy of Afrodizz.
Toli Nameless
Femm Nameless |
In an act of sheer symmetry, Femm Nameless suffered from the same problems of Afrodizz throughout their 90-minute headlining set. Again the band was full of energy, played their instruments relatively well, and created a frenzy of dancing among the crowd. Yet, sound problems and monotony were their downfall, as each original tune sounded too similar and their soloing and intricate musical work got shielded by the muddiness of the venue. While band leader and politicized lyricist Toli Nameless had fantastic stage presence and the rhythm section, led by a fantastic five-string upright electric bassist, kept their Afrobeat, and hip-hop-laden style reasonably interesting, boredom crept through the venue as the set dragged on, fueled by the fire of the sextet's inherent repetitiveness. The energy was high, but the jazz-influenced diversity that makes Afrobeat so irresistible was not.
Going into the evening with extremely high expectations, I was ultimately left unfulfilled, despite the high-octane night of talented Afrobeat, jazz, hip-hop, and funk. Still, I admit that I'll be a return customer for both bands, but next time I know exactly what to expect. I guess Fela is smiling and shaking his head at the same time.
Shain Shapiro
JamBase | London
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