There Is No End

by

Ali Jamal

There is no end - to a great musician.  Tony Allen, the Master drummer and co-founder of the Afrobeat genre, passed at the age of 79 in 2020.  His music and his legacy live on and his contribution to the world of music will never leave us.  After his transition last year, a project was released aptly entitled - There Is No End.  

The album features songs like Mau Mau, a piece that features the formidable Nah Eeto and that packs a punch!  It is so funky and will keep the head bobbing.  It has a nasty beat, bass line and chant that invoke rebellion, power and creativity. 

There also tracks like Coonta Kinte - "Ain't no Justice or no Peace, they might come for me" and songs that feature two bonafide Queens on the mic, Sampa the Great and Lava La Rue bless us with Stumbling Down and One Inna Million respectively.  They are pure lyrical genius.

I can't say this is album of the year - that is a bit subjective - but, I'm a drummer and so my ears are biased.  I love this album.  The composition and care they took to put it together required discipline, creativity, risk, and pure talent.  Long live the King of the Afro-BEAT - the great ancestor Tony Allen.