Martín Perna Marcos García Jordan McLean Marcus Farrar Reinaldo Dejesus Jake Pinto Justin Kimmel Timothy J Allen Kevin Raczka Michael Pallas Drew Vandewinckel Andrew McGovern
Antibalas (Spanish for "bulletproof") is an American,Brooklyn-basedafrobeat band founded in 1998 byMartín Perna. Initially inspired byFela Kuti's Africa 70 band andEddie Palmieri's Harlem River Drive Orchestra, the music generally follows the musical architecture and language of afrobeat and incorporates elements ofjazz,funk,dub,improvised music, and traditional drumming fromCuba andWest Africa.
As "Conjunto Antibalas", the group first performed on May 26, 1998, atSt. Nick's Pub inHarlem at a poetry night organized by visual artistXaviera Simmons. Over the next few months, the group solidified with a core of eleven band members and expanded their repertoire of original songs. For the first year of the group's existence, they performed exclusively at non-commercial venues such as block parties, lofts, and public parks, before securing a Friday-night residency at the now-defunct NoMoore in August 1999. Called Africalia!, the residency lasted from August 1999 till April 2001, when the club was shut down by fire officials during theGiuliani administration's crackdown on nightclubs and cabarets.[1] Along with Perna, guitarist and producer/engineerGabriel Roth wrote several of the earlier tunes and oversaw recording and most of the production of the first three records.
Over the next few years, the band's presence grew and lead singerDuke Amayo joined the band in 1999; by summer 2000 Antibalas had released their first album,Liberation Afrobeat Vol. 1, and had toured twice in England, while continuing to play at venues throughoutNew York City. Recording with the group in the early days was Cameroonian drummer Jojo Kuo, who can be heard on the studio recordings of "Uprising" and "Machete".
By early 2002, the horn-driven outfit had released their second album,Talkatif, and continued to tour throughout the United States and Europe. In summer 2004, they released their third studio album,Who is This America? onRopeadope Records. Of the album,Pitchfork writes, "Indeed, where Antibalas' previous works were abridged for accessibility, here they've clearly become more comfortable with their staying power, and more confident with their voice."[2]
The group returned to the studio in the summer of 2005 to work with producerJohn McEntire in Chicago. Antibalas's albumSecurity, produced by McEntire and released on the ANTI- label in 2007, was "a clear turning point for the band," andSpin notes "they've practically become their own genre."[3]
The group has received guest visits from several musicians from Fela Kuti's Afrika 70 and Egypt 80 bands, includingTony Allen (drums),Femi Kuti (alto sax), Tunde Williams (trumpet), Oghene Kologbo (guitar), Nicolas Addey (congas),Dele Sosimi (keyboards), Ola Jagun (drums/percussion), and Jojo Kuo (drums) as well as Seun Kuti.
In the summer of 2008, Antibalas was featured off-Broadway inBill T. Jones'sFela!, a musical celebrating the life of Fela Kuti. Antibalas trombonist Aaron Johnson served as the show's musical director and was joined by several members of Antibalas. In the fall of 2009,Fela! opened onBroadway at theEugene O'Neill Theatre, once again with members of Antibalas.[4]
In 2010, the band independently released theirRat Race EP, produced by Victor Axelrod, with original "Se Chifló" featuring Chico Mann as vocalist and an arrangement ofBob Marley's "Rat Race" sung by Amayo on vocals. "Rat Race" was included on the compilationWorld's Funkiest Covers in 2011.[5]
In 2011, the band reunited with producer and former Antibalas guitaristGabriel Roth atDaptone Studios inBushwick,Brooklyn, to record their fifth full-length album, entitledAntibalas. The album was released on August 7, 2012, on theDaptone label.[6]
The band resumed a heavy touring schedule beginning in April 2012 with their debut tour inBrazil, performing inSão Paulo andRecife, and kicked off a US tour at theOutsidelands Festival in San Francisco, followed by a tour of California. On August 24, 2012, Antibalas made their national television debut, performing their single "Dirty Money" onNBC'sLate Night with Jimmy Fallon. On September 11, they resumed their US/Canada tour with 30 dates in the Midwest, East Coast, Southeast and Gulf Coast, including theAustin City Limits Festival. On October 4, they appeared onNPR'sTiny Desk Concerts.[7] The band toured in Europe in October and November 2012, followed by an Australian tour in March 2013 . In May of the same year Antibalas visited Mexico for first time, performing inPuebla "Festival 5 de Mayo" joined by original memberVictor Axelrod on bass.
The group also performed a 29-show tour in collaboration with the groupZap Mama at performing arts centers across the US and Canada.[15][16]
In 2020, Antibalas released their seventh full-length studio album, entitledFu Chronicles, on the Daptone label. Composed by longtime vocalistAmayo who told NPR'sMorning Edition, "Since I was a kid, I was always studyingmartial arts andkung fu was very central [to] everything I did. So when I started playing music, I couldn't imagine not having kung fu as part of that training. But then, I wanted to now figure out a way to bring it all together. So this album was the first chapter in [which] kung fu meets Afrobeat."[17]
In mid-2021 the band began a formal separation process withAmayo, which was publicly announced in November 2021 once settled.[20]
Immediately following Amayo's departure, the band resumed touring throughout North America, Mexico, Europe and North Africa, and in May 2023 completed a four-night, eight-show run at theBlue Note Jazz Club in New York, celebrating their 25th anniversary.[21][22]
