SOLD OUT: Tony Allen featuring Amp Fiddler
Saturday, April 23, 2011 - 8:00pm
7:00pm
$30.00
$35.00
Walker members $25/$30; Standing Room Only
At The Cedar
“There is no question that Tony Allen is a genius, one of the greatest percussionists in the history of popular music.” —Guardian
During his 15 years as an anchor of Fela Kuti’s legendary Africa ‘70 ensemble, the self-taught Allen became widely acknowledged as one of the world’s best percussionists. With Fela out front, Allen essentially created the beat behind Afrobeat, fusing Nigerian rhythms with American jazz, funk, and soul for a hard-driving, horns-rich, politically insurrectionary genre that has been a dominant force in African music and huge global influence since the 70s. A restless innovator who prefers the stage to a recording studio, Allen has applied his unique polyrhythmic style to electronica, dub, R&B, and rap, and most recently pop, with ex-Clash bassist Paul Simonon and former Blur frontman Damon Albarn in The Good the Bad and the Queen. His latest solo recording, Secret Agent, has been hailed as a magisterial return to hardcore Afrobeat; he brings with him to the Cedar stage seven musicians and singers from around the globe.
Soul/funk keyboardist and singer Amp Fiddler (Prince, George Clinton, Primal Scream) will be one of the featured musicians tonight.
A co-presentation of The Cedar and the Walker Art Center. Concert will take place at The Cedar.
SOLD OUT.
Support provided by The McKnight Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Born in Nigeria in 1940 of mixed Nigerian and Ghanaian parentage, Tony Allen is perhaps the most highly-regarded African drum set player to emerge since World War II. Drummers and other musicians of all backgrounds marvel at his uniquely polyrhythmic style....
Major Funders
This activity is made possible in part by a grant provided by the Minnesota State Arts Board, through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature from the Minnesota arts and cultural heritage fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008, and a grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation Minnesota.
