I caught Asheville, North Carolina Afrobeat band the Afromotive at Castaways last night; with four full-time percussionists they put out some really rich beats. It was a real luxury to take a ten-minute drive to see a ten-piece Afrobeat band for, again, just five bucks. Here's some music from the Afromotive--there are actually three whole songs available, click the "songs" button to access the other two:
I am always amazed at the musicianship in Afrobeat bands, but I suppose that the genre attracts serious players with serious chops, and above all a great sense of fun. At my first Afrobeat show (
Nomo in Boston, back in July) I hit upon the idea of an Afrobeat version of Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein." Nobody's done that yet, as far as I know, but yesterday I found the next best thing: a marching band version! At the record show in Ithaca I got an album by the Stanford University Band, there's no date on it but I'll date it at 1979, probably recorded during fall 1978 football games (as the newest song on it is "Who Are You," a hit during fall of 1978). I love marching bands, they dispense with any sense of subtlety at all in favor of pounding rhythms and blaring brass. At my first office at the University of Maryland, the marching band would practice right across the street. It gave a real sense of importance to whatever I was doing!
Too bad they didn't bring it back to the main theme after the bridge, but you can't have everything. Edgar Winter's original version follows for comparison purposes. If I am feeling mischievous one day, I may dig out his 1984 remake and post it on the blog. If I am feeling evil, I will post the
rap version.
