DJ Abrantee presents Afrobeats – review
On paper, it was a perfect idea: al fresco raving to the
summer-friendly sounds of afrobeats,
a natural opportunity to bring some of the most vibrant music around out of its
natural underground club habitat, and to liven up Somerset House's genteel
annual series of gigs.
Afrobeats is made for dancing in skimpy clothing under
blazing sunshine, not amid a sea of ponchos and umbrellas while enduring
tonight's deluge. But appropriately enough for a scene characterised by
versatility, tonight displays afrobeats' capacity to fill even the most
unpromising scenario with celebratory energy.
An eye-wateringly impressive performance by the Abladei dance troupe – fire-eating and
casual contortionism feature heavily – is followed by a no-nonsense revolving
door of artists. With every 10-minute cameo, the angle on the genre is adjusted
slightly as each goes all-out to stamp their distinct personalities and
backgrounds on the show. "It's about cultures – rep your countries!"
calls Amour, the night's first host, in a declaration of pluralism that
underpins the evening. Afrobeats, like all pop, is a broad church; its loosely
defined unifying aesthetic takes disparate African club styles as a base from
which to enlist anything it pleases, towards the end goal of making bodies
move.
Thus, at various times tonight's music is reminiscent of
dancehall, with Atumpan's
exhortations to "wine down low"; then funky house, with Kwamz and
Flava's propulsive Shine Your Eyes; and even the spirit of grime,
with the rambunctious rapping and rewinds of London's own Vibe Squad. Digital,
Auto-Tuned dancefloor bangers (Skob's Cum On) rub
shoulders with irresistible call-and-response hooks (Mista Silva's Boom Boom Tah);
there is slinky, loverman smoothness from Olu Maintain and even the
incorporation of Spanish rapping courtesy of Angola's SOA. Tough, no-nonsense
syncopated beats morph into heart-soaringly generous melodies and irresistibly
cheesy chants.
The night's main host, DJ Abrantee,
declares that the crowd – whose spirits have not been dampened one whit by the
weather – is "making history" by raving in the rain with the air of a
man who can't quite believe how far his baby has come; when he rounds tonight
off with a selection of the biggest afrobeats anthems (including D'Banj's Oliver Twist and
Davido's Dami Duro) and the entire audience does the genre's signature azonto dance, getting
caught up in the party vibe overrides all else.
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