Afrobeat

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...a horn-driven big band with vocalists who can scream or croon, as its music slyly adds even more layers of rhythm — many drawn from voodoo — to the Afrobeat and Latin-influenced funk of its neighbors, brilliantly raising the contrapuntal ante. (Top 10 Pop Albums of 2011, Jon Pareles, New York Times)

This is music for the people, people who want to dance to this raw mix of horns, guitar, organ on a driving bedrock of bass and drums. It’s amazing where all this brilliant music keeps coming from but you end up wondering how you’ve not come across it before (Graham Radley, worldmusic.co.uk)

The legendary voodoo funk band Orchestre Poly-Rythmo fires up the Cedar with their unique blast of psychedelic guitar riffs, unreal organ harmonies, funk and soul.

The Cedar is now air-conditioned for your year-round comfort!

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Summer starts early tonight with the return of Sierra Leone's Refugee Allstars, and their joyful, upbeat music rooted in old school reggae, funky African grooves and deep tribal chants drawn from their brilliant new album Radio Salone (April 24, Cumbancha) and their earlier gems Living Like a Refugee and Rise & Shine.

The Cedar is now air-conditioned for your year-round comfort!

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Brazilian percussionist, singer and bandleader Dendê live in concert at the Cedar, with his band for a night of Brazilian afro-funk and grooves.

The Cedar is now fully air-conditioned for your year-round comfort!

Ticket options and info

• On sale date: noon Fri Mar 9
• Phone: 612-338-2674 ext 2 ($2 fee per ticket)
• In person: From a Cedar volunteer in the front lobby during events (no fee; cash, check, credit card), Depth of Field (no fee; cash or check only), or Electric Fetus (small fee)
• Online: Ticketweb (fees apply) (click on red Buy Tickets button at top of this page)
• All Cedar shows are all ages.
• Students with ID may purchase tickets at a discount at the door.

Melodic and hard-hitting horn lines create a lyrical flow to the music of Chicago Afrobeat Project, undercut by a hypnotic, driven rhythm section.  Complex call-and-response percussion songs are dispersed throughout the dynamic live performances. This is a band that will keep you moving on the wide open dance floor all night!

The Cedar is now fully air-conditioned for your year-round comfort!

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“As a performer, Seun is far more of a chip off the old block than Femi, and with a gruffer and more streetwise sounding vocal delivery. And with his dad’s old band Egypt 80 behind him, he’s a force to be reckoned with.” —BBC

Afro-Peruvian tradition collides with modern production techniques to create an infectious hybrid. (Jason Bentley, Morning Becomes Eclectic, KCRW)

Like Gotan Project at their best, this Afro-Peruvian outfit takes the rhythmic and melodic forms of its traditional music and make something wholly vital and contemporary out of them. Muscular, idiosyncratic grooves. (The Independent, UK)

With their unique fusion of Afro-Peruvian soul with dub, salsa, hip-hop, Afrobeat, breakbeat and house music, Novalima has earned raves from trend-setting DJs and journalists and has developed a wide following across the globe.

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"...an ultra-funky intertwining of infectious grooves with melodic phrases, even when they are at their most experimental. Despite the music’s complexity, it remains uncluttered and spacious...If you are into classic funk like Parliament Funkadelic, the Meters ...you should find Orgone intoxicating. In addition to the funk, R&B and jazz elements, the band exhibits an adventurous rock ‘n’ roll twist...This is one hell of a band." (RELIX magazine)

Tickets go on sale at 12 noon Fri Jan 28 from the Cedar Ticketline (612-338-2674 ext 2), from hard-working Cedar volunteers in the front lobby during shows, from Cedar outlets (Electric Fetus and Depth of Field), and online at Ticketweb.

All Cedar shows are all ages. Students with ID may gain discounted admission for tickets purchased at the door.

On Oct 15, 2010, afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti would have been celebrating his 72nd birthday, if he hadn't died prematurely from an AIDS-related illness on Aug 2, 1997. We are left with an incredible body of recorded work (45 albums are being re-released by Knitting Factory Records), the hit Broadway musical FELA!, and a growing slew of bands who have taken their inspiration from Fela and together keep the afrobeat movement vital. Tonight, celebrate Fela's life and music, and kick up a sweat with Chicago Afrobeat Project, and DJs Paul Harding and Danny Sigelman. NEW: Enter at the door with your ticket to win a Zombie batch set of six Fela CDs (value $60), courtesy of Knitting Factory Records!

Tickets are on sale now from the Cedar Ticketline (612-338-2674 ext 2), from hard-working Cedar volunteers in the front lobby during shows, from Cedar outlets (Electric Fetus, Irish on Grand, Homestead Pickin' Parlor, and Depth of Field), and online at Ticketweb.

All Cedar shows are all ages. Students with ID may gain discounted admission for tickets purchased at the door.

“There is no question that Tony Allen is a genius, one of the greatest percussionists in the history of popular music.” —Guardian Read more »