Tony Allen: A master of musical diversity

Best known as Fela Kuti's drummer and musical director, his skill and ferocity revolutionised the art of drums and created the canvas for Fela to present his message of pan-Africanism.

Although 10 songs could never account for Allen’s incredible career, they do represent a musician who had an immense influence in the world of rock, punk, indie, electro, hip hop and pop.

Moanin

Allen was an admirer of American jazz giant Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He often cited him as an inspiration while perfecting his craft in Nigeria. So it came as no surprise when Allen honoured Blakey in 2017 with the album A Tribute To Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, which is an interpretation of jazz standards through the Afrobeat prism.

Roforofo Fight

This song is off Fela Kuti's 1972 album Roforofo Fight. The 13-minute composition is a great example of the complexity of Allen's drumming. The James Brown influence is strongly heard in the lean, nervous guitar strums as Allen takes centre stage with his relentless groove, which plays counter to Fela's forceful lyrics.

The Good, the Bad & the Queen (full album)

Blur and Gorillaz singer Damon Albarn invited Allen to join his 2007 project The Good, the Bad & the Queen. Taking up the role of timekeeper and pacesetter while adding his shimmering, polyrhythmic West African flourishes showed Allen's brilliance and versatility as a drummer.

Never (Lagos Never Gonna Be the Same)

The song is off Rejoice, the album that Allen and South African jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela recorded in 2010 in London. The project was left unfinished but after Masekela passed away in 2018, Allen and producer Nick Gold dug up the original recordings and finished the album in the summer of 2019, in the same London studio where they had started recording nine years earlier. The album was released in March 2020. Before his death, Allen was planning a tour to promote the album “along with Hugh’s classics and some of my own stuff,” he told The Guardian.

Sounding Lines 1

Techno producer and percussionist Moritz von Oswald teams up with Allen and modular synth guru Max Loderbauer on the intriguingly ambiguous Sounding Lines album. One of Allen’s trademarks is his ability to keep the grooves interesting and steady during long jams, and this is illustrated in this new-age composition.

Wolf Eats Wolf

While working with musicians in many genres, Allen was known to tackle rhythmic mazes like a walk in the park. On ‘Wolf Eats Wolf’, Allen is comfortably experimental with his Afrobeat groove and jazz influences. This track is off The Source – his first album of original compositions as a bandleader under the Blue Note label. The personnel on The Source features Parisian jazz musicians and Cameroonian guitarist Indy Dibongue.

Zombie

The 1978 release was a result of Kuti’s outspokenness on issues surrounding the military regime in Nigeria. Allen’s snappy and thudding foundation complements Kuti’s sax lines perfectly. While the album was a huge hit with the people, the government was outraged and intensified its attacks on Kuti and his family. His Kalakuta Republic compound was raided and razed by soldiers, who raped multiple women and threw his elderly mother from a window, which led to her death a few months later.

Rocket Juice and the Moon (full album)

Five years after the release of The Good, the Bad & the Queen, Albarn reconnected with Allen and recruited Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea for Rocket Juice and the Moon. The collaboration resulted in a highly enjoyable album of Afrobeat accented with edgy basslines and artsy guitar-synth melodies. Albarn also enlists a handful of African rappers and singers, including a few from the Africa Express exchange programme, like Ghanaians M.anifest and M3nsa, as well as Mali's amazing Fatoumata Diawara.

Water No Get Enemy

This is one of the many songs that prove Kuti was a bold pioneer of self-liberation. Allen plays independent bass drum and snares drum patterns. The song, released in 1975, was inspired by Kuti’s experience with the police when they allegedly planted marijuana on the musician to incriminate him. He uses the imagery of water to outline methods of resistance to Nigeria’s reactionary government.

Tomorrow Comes the Harvest

This was a 2018 project between Allen and techno pioneer Jeff Mills. The record has a wonderfully loose, improvisatory feel as Allen’s shuffle floats beneath Mills’s distorted sub-bass. Even in the gridwork of Mills’ techno, Allen manages to swing. Before this release, the two had been playing improvisational live sets together since 2016. The album was released in two versions: a European one with four tracks and an expanded Japanese release that includes an extra track and alternative edits.