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Maybe Aphrodesia is further proof
that it's time to update the word 'afrobeat'
with something else. True, the group's horn-laden
polyrhythmic funk owes more
than a passing glance to Fela Kuti's revolutionary 1970's
blueprint, and
yes, this is the same San Francisco-based crew who braved
armed Nigerian border
police during their 2006 pilgrimage to Lagos, Nigeria and
the New Afrika Shrine-
Femi Kuti's continuation of his father's legendary nightclub
and the birthplace
of afrobeat itself. But Aphrodesia's sound- the rich, dual
female lead vocals,
jazz-inflected horn section and powerful rhythm- has always
encompassed much more
than just afrobeat.
Funk, dub, Ghanaian highlife, Zimbabwean trance
and hip-hop and global pop have
always spiced up Aphrodesia's stew, and their new album-
“Lagos By Bus” (to
be released in November, 2007)- looks to cement their
reputation as genre-defying
innovators even further. Packed with material written and
inspired by the group's
landmark trip to West Africa in February of 2006, the disc
ranges from the walloping
afro-funk of “Agayu” to the thumb piano-fueled trance of
“Virgin of the Sun God”
to the epic “Bus Driver”, a song written partly about the
group's harrowing
journey overland from Ghana to Nigeria and partly about the
band's own bus here
in the US- a biodiesel road warrior that has taken the group
all over the US and
Canada for the last three years.
Birthed in 2003 in the backyard shack of bassist
Ezra Gale, Aphrodesia quickly recorded
“Shackrobeat Vol. 1”, a Highlife, dub and afrobeat-inflected
disc heavily influenced
by singer Lara Maykovich's experience living in Ghana and
Zimbabwe (several
songs set traditional African melodies to original music)
which was picked as a
top record of 2003 by the East Bay Express. The following
year the politically outspoken
group launched the “Just Vote Tour”, a cross-country
swing-state voter registration
tour undertaken in the group's vegetable oil-powered bus
that landed in New
York City during the Republican National Convention- a tour
that failed to achieve
the band's ultimate goal of ousting George W. Bush from
office but did land
the group on the cover of USA Today and many other local
media outlets.
The group's second album, “Front Lines”, was recorded soon
after and further
defined the group's unique sonic brew. Featuring the layered
lead vocals of
Maykovich and Maya Dorn, several bold originals penned by
the group and eclectic
guest performers ranging from Tom Waits sideman Ralph Carney
to former Sierra Club
president Adam Werbach, the disc was featured on National
Public Radio and ecstatically
reviewed by outlets from Global Rhythm Magazine to the
Village Voice.
Meanwhile, the group's reputation
as a show-stopping live act as continued to
spread. With a solidified lineup that includes singers
Mayokovich and Dorn, bassist
Gale, guitarists David Sartore and Chris Mulhauser, the horn
section of Henry Hung,
Liz Larson, Mitch Marcus and Sylvain Carton, percussionist
Paul Sonnabend and powerhouse
drummer Jason Slota, Aphrodesia delivered stunning, high
energy sets at both the
2004 and 2005 High Sierra Music Festivals, the 2005
Earthdance Festival, the 2005
and 2006 Aspen Jazz Festival, the 2006 and 2007 Harmony
Festival and many more.
The group's near-constant touring saw them build a fan base
all over the U.S.,
playing venues from San Francisco's Fillmore to New York
City's S.O.B.'s,
and opening slots for Maceo Parker, Steel Pulse, the String
Cheese Incident, Sierra
Leone Refugee All-Stars, Konono no. 1 and several others
broadened their reach even
further.
Aphrodesia’s music carries with
it a strong sense of social justice, and the band
has been known to write their own politically-charged lyrics
while updating Fela
Kuti classics like ‘No Agreement’ and ‘Zombie’. But the
band’s commitment to social
change extends offstage as well. Having headlined numerous
benefits for causes ranging
from AIDS prevention to Tsunami Relief to anti-Iraq War
organizations, Aphrodesia
is devoted to 'walking the walk as well as talking the
talk'. Believing
that alternative energy is necessary both to protect our
planet's environment
and to reduce America's dangerous dependence on foreign oil,
the band proudly
travels in a biodiesel powered bus- meaning it’s one of the
few groups of any stripe
not sponsored by Chevron, Texaco, and co. It may be a small
start, but the group
believes that its actions, like its music, can have a huge
effect.
“A potent,
buoyant and irresistibly danceable pan-African mashup”-
Global Rhythm
“…does
Fela’s own
Egypt
80 proud”- Jambase.com
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