Review: BANTU – Everybody Get Agenda

28 Sep 2020 - 19:58

In 2015, American director Liz Garbus released a documentary about jazz musician and activist Nina Simone titled What Happened, Miss Simone? In the film, there is a recorded clip where Simone tells that interviewer, "I choose to reflect the times and the situations in which I find myself ... How can you be an artist and not reflect the times?"

BANTU.

This urgency of speaking truth to power is pronounced in BANTU's seventh album Everybody Get Agenda. Like all previous BANTU albums, it is a reflection not only of the socio-political atmosphere in Nigeria but also that of the continent. This positions BANTU as one of Africa's most politically driven bands.

The 10-track album sees 13 top musicians create a canvas for lyrics that focus on the woes of modern-day Nigeria with metaphors about corruption, injustice, poverty, migration, xenophobia and urban alienation. For casual or first-time listeners, this project pays homage to the Afrobeat genre while fusing it with hip hop and R&B.

The 41-minute offering opens with 'Animal Carnival', an anti-corruption anthem. The song, featuring band leader Ade Bantu on Pidgin vocals, roars into life with a solid kick drum and dirty brass section. He tries to make sense of the outlandish and insane realities of Nigerian politics, where kleptocracy has reached staggering new heights, with missing funds being attributed to devious acts of the supernatural.

Pushing even deeper into social ills are 'Killers & Looters', 'Cash and Carry' and 'Disrupt the Program'. They highlight incidents of kidnapping, lack of freedom of expression and electoral fraud. The chorus in the latter could be the album's general theme: "We must disrupt the programme / Regain our freedom by any means necessary."

The band takes a detour from its signature sound on the soul-inspired 'Water Cemetery'. The song is a call to action against the brutality and inhumanity faced by desperate young Africans trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. Here Ade Bantu tries his hand at soft raps, which are articulated further by soft piano walks and muted trumpet lines.

Apart from painting a political picture, BANTU also wants us to get up and dance. 'Me Myself and I' features one of the grooviest beats on the album alongside a talking drum, helping the listener forget existential despair for a moment. 'Jagun Jagun' is the crown jewel of this album, as it perfectly synchs traditional vocal-driven Afrobeat with highlife and American funk and jazz.

'Yeye Theory', however, takes the cake for best collaboration of the collection. Here BANTU features Seun Kuti, a natural fit for the musician-activist and son of Fela. The message in the song is that Africa needs to tell its own story. To achieve that, it must denounce western standards and focus on its repressed traditions.

Simone's call for artists to reflect the times was a plea for more political music and Everybody Get Agenda is just that. The takeaway message from the album is clear: Africans are suffering from dishonest leadership. It's time to rediscover people's power.

Listen and download Everybody Get Agenda here.