Some popular world musicians and Grammy Award winners including Angelique Kidjo, on Friday paid glowing tributes to the legendary lead drummer of the Afrobeat king, Fela, Tony Allen, who died on Thursday evening in Paris, France.
Eric Trosset told NPR radio that he died of a heart attack. AFP said his death was not linked to coronavirus.
Allen was the drummer and musical director of musician Fela Kuti’s famous band Africa ’70 in the 1960-70s.
Fela, as he was widely known, died in 1997. He once said that “without Tony Allen, there would be no afrobeat”.
Afrobeat combines elements of West Africa’s fuji music and highlife styles with American funk and jazz.
Allen was described by UK musician, Brian Eno, as “perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived.”
Trosset led tributes in a Facebook post saying “your eyes saw what most couldn’t see… as you used to say: ‘There is no end'”.
Beninois singer, Angelique Kidjo, told the BBC’s Newsday programme that she had been hit hard by both Allen’s death and the passing of Cameroonian saxophone legend, Manu Dibango in March.
Kidjo wrote in her Instagram page: “Bye bye Tony Allen, beautiful spirit and friend who has changed the history of African music. I was so lucky to work with you on my last two albums. Sending lots of love to his family and friends.”
Ghanaian rapper, M.anifest tweeted that Allen “put the beat in afrobeat” and thanked him “for a lifetime of being quietly epic”.
“You put the beat in Afrobeat. A giant. Rest in paradise and thank you for a lifetime of being quietly epic. Honored that some of my most memorable times on this journey were in studios and on stages with you. Journey well Tony Allen.”
Flea, the bassist for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, who spent time with Allen in London, called him “one of the greatest drummers to ever walk this earth” and described him as his “hero”.
“What a wildman, with a massive, kind and free heart and the deepest one-of-a-kind groove,” Flea said on Instagram.
How did he become a drummer?
Allen’s career and life story were documented in his 2013 autobiography Tony Allen: Master Drummer of Afrobeat.
Allen, who was born in Lagos in 1940, taught himself how to play drums when he was 18.
He said he learnt his technique by listening closely to American jazz drummers Art Blakey and Max Roach. He then created the distinctive polyphonic rhythms of afrobeat and was said to be able to play four different beats with each of his limbs.
Allen first met Fela in 1964, and they went on to record dozens of albums in Africa ’70, including Gentleman and Zombie.
Allen left the band in 1979, after reported rifts with the band leader over royalties. Fela needed four separate drummers to fill the void.
Allen emigrated to London in 1984, and later moved to Paris.
He collaborated with a number of artists during his long music career, and was the drummer in The Good, the Bad & the Queen, with Damon Albarn, Paul Simenon and Simon Tong.
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