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The legend of drummer Tony Allen is dead. The Nigerian musician, co-founder of Afrobeat, died Thursday at the age of 79 in Paris, his manager Eric Trosset said. The cause of death is unclear, but Allen did not die from an infection with the coronavirus. “He was completely healthy, that came suddenly,” said his manager.
He spoke to Allen at noon, two hours later, the musician felt uncomfortable and was taken to the Pompidou hospital, where he died, according to Trosset. The musician lived in Courbevoie, near Paris.
Allen was the drummer and music director for his compatriot Fela Kuti in the 1960s and 1970s, with whom he developed the Afrobeat. Combining genres such as jazz, funk, and traditional Nigerian drum rhythms, it became one of the most important trends in African music in the 20th century.
Everyone learned to play the drums at the age of 18 and was inspired by jazz greats like Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, as well as contemporary African music. With Fela and the group Africa 70, he recorded around 40 music albums before the two separated after 26 years of collaboration. Allen’s drums were so intense that Fela needed four drummers to replace Allen. In the first decade of the 21st century, Allen played drums on Damon Albarn’s The Good, The Bad and The Queen project, the former leader of the Blur band.
British musician and producer Brian Eno once described Tony Allen as “perhaps the best drummer ever.”
By: APA / ag.
