Of mixed Nigerian and Ghanaian parentage, Allen taught himself to play drums by listening to records made by the American jazz drummers Art Blakey and Max Roach. He began working as a professional musician in 1960, gigging around Lagos and variously playing highlife and jazz. He has long been acknowledged as Africa's finest kit drummer and one of it's most influential musicians, the man who with Fela Kuti created Afrobeat - the hard driving, James Brown funk-infused, and politically engaged style which became such a dominant force in African music and whose influence continues to spread today.
Allen had to overcome strong parental opposition to realise his dream of becoming a professional musician. "My parents were...not keen. Back then, in Lagos, musicians were more or less thought of as beggars, or worse. But I just put it in front of them. I was an electrical technician, but I wanted to make a change. My mother was never happy about it, but my father, who was an amateur musician, eventually agreed."
Allen started out as a jazz drummer. "Art Blakey was my big influence, and before that, before I started club crawling, it was Gene Krupa. When I started, I tried to play like Gene Krupa. Then I discovered Blue Note Records and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers - it opened up another style to me. Max Roach was important too. I studied some lessons he wrote in Down Beat magazine about how to play high-hats. Most drummers in Lagos never used them, they were just a decoration on the kit, and I'd always thought that was something incomplete."
It was, however, no easier making a living playing jazz in Lagos than it was anywhere else outside the USA in the early 1960s: Allen's first extended gig was with the Cool Cats, a highlife band fronted by Sir Victor Olaiya (the so-called "Evil Genius of Highlife", although Olaiya's group was then pretty much a "copyright band," playing covers of other artists' hits). When the Cool Cats split, Allen returned to his job as an electrical technician before joining other highlife groups including Agu Norris and the Heatwaves, the Nigerian Messengers, the Melody Angels and, finally, the Western Toppers.
Allen was playing with the Western Toppers when he met Kuti in 1964. "Fela had been presenting a jazz records programme on NBC (Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation) on Friday nights. He decided he wanted to form his own jazz band and play the music himself in the clubs. He'd tried out several drummers, but none of them were what he was looking for. He began to think there was no-one suitable in Africa. Then someone recommended me to him. I auditioned - and he asked me if I'd learnt to play in the USA! I had the style he wanted. We played strictly jazz together for about a year, as the Fela Ransome Kuti Jazz Quartet, before we started Koola Lobitos."
Koola Lobitos, formed in 1965, played a mixture of highlife and jazz. According to Allen, the music started out so complex and full of changes that the audience didn't understand what they were hearing. "In five minutes we'd use like five different arrangements (time signatures). It was just too complicated for the audience. They couldn't understand what was happening - except, possibly, the musically inclined ones who knew that the music was different from all the local things they'd been listening to. But it was a bit like showing off, so we decided to simplify things, giving each song two hook lines and a straightforward arrangement so that people wanted to dance." (A few years later, at the urging of funk musicians including Bootsy Collins and other members of James Brown's band they met on tour in the US, Kuti and Allen simplified things further. "One idea, one song" became the Afrobeat paradigm).
Koola Lobitos' nascent Afrobeat would have been nothing without Allen's innovative bass drum patterns, which were unlike those used by any other kit drummer working in Lagos at the time. His bass drum dealt a double whammy, b-boom, b-boom. Where other drummers would play a single beat, Allen made it a double, giving Afrobeat its trademark forward thrust. "The bass drum patterns are unique to me," says Allen. "I'd never play one, one. Any drummer can play that straight beat. But that's just like putting a metronome in there."
In 1969, Koola Lobitos made an extended visit to the US, where they lived a hand to mouth existence. "The living conditions were rough," says Allen. "We started on the east cost, where there were lots of Nigerian students, and we did well there. Then we went west, via Chicago, to San Francisco and Los Angeles." Audiences, which were still largely composed of Nigerians, grew smaller. "Fela got fed up just playing to Nigerians. He said if we were going to play to Nigerians, we might as well do it in Nigeria where there were a lot more of them." The Koola Lobitos album The '69 Los Angeles Sessions, made on the hoof towards the end of the tour, documents the emergent Afrobeat style of the band.
Kuti's political consciousness, nurtured by his politically active parents back home - and soon to become a defining feature of Afrobeat - was sharpened in the US, where he befriended a black American woman called Sandra Isidore. A member of the Black Panthers, Isidore introduced Kuti to the ideas of such people as Malcolm X, Angela Davis, the Last Poets, Stokeley Carmichael and Eldridge Cleaver, all of whose thinking played some part in the development of Kuti's own political philosophy, Blackism.
Once back in Lagos, Kuti renamed the band Africa 70 (it had in the US briefly been Nigeria 70, and was later tweaked to Afrika 70). With Allen forging the music's vibrant signature rhythms, and Kuti its incendiary lyrics, the duo had, within a few years turned Afrobeat into a style rivalling the then reigning juju and highlife in popularity.
"Fela said I sounded like four drummers," says Allen. "I was the only one who originated the music I played." Fela used to write out the parts for all the other musicians. If Allen sounded like four drummers, it could have been because, in his mature Afrika 70 style, he was drawing on four different styles - highlife, soul/funk, jazz and traditional African drumming. A unique and mighty sound. (In 1970 when James Brown played in Nigeria, his arranger made careful study of Fela's band and Allen's drumming in particular, as did Ginger Baker, another disciple).
Allen stayed with Kuti for close on 15 years, from 1964-1979/80 (it wasn't an overnight parting of the ways). He played on all Afrika 70's albums up until 'V.I.P. - Vagabonds In Power' (after which the band briefly dissolved, before Kuti formed Egypt 80). These include the classic mid-decade stream of discs documenting the post-colonial iniquities of Nigerian society and Kuti's (and Afrika 70's) increasingly bloody conflicts with the authorities - among them 'Alagbon Close', 'Everything Scatter', 'Expensive Shit', 'Yellow Fever', 'Zombie', 'Kalakuta Show', 'Before I Jump Like Monkey Give Me Banana', 'Sorrow Tears And Blood' and 'Fear Not For Man'. The band enjoyed massive popularity in Nigeria and elsewhere in West Africa, but (at home) were subject to constant harassment, and at times brutal physical attacks, from the army and the police.
In 1975, Allen recorded his debut album, 'Jealousy', the first of three made with Afrika 70 and produced by Kuti. 'Progress' followed in 1976, 'No Accommodation For Lagos' in 1978. But by 1978 he was ready for a change of scene, and a year later he parted company with Kuti. The touring entourage had grown to outlandish proportions and there was talk of him not getting due respect or recompense for the contribution he had made to the creation of Afrobeat and the success of Afrika 70. "It's not a big story," says Allen today. "I was tired, I'd just had enough." His final studio collaboration with Kuti was on an album made with American vibraphonist Roy Ayers, 'Africa Centre Of The World' (released in 1981). In 1979 he formed his own band, Tony Allen and the Afro Messengers, and recorded his first album away from Kuti, 'No Discrimination'.
Allen spent the next few years in Nigeria, and from 1981-83 led another Afrobeat band, the Mighty Irokos. The group enjoyed local success, but Allen had tasted international breakthrough with Afrika 70, and he had his eyes on a bigger stage. In 1984 he left Lagos for London, living there for eighteen months before moving to Paris, where he lives with his family today.
"Lagos was too small for me and Fela. It was a small place, and I wanted room to take off without causing competition," says Allen. "I eventually chose Paris partly because the British immigration people were giving me difficulties, but also because African music was more happening then in Paris than in London, and my record company (Barclay) was in France. It was the only place I felt I could exercise my knowledge and make a living." Soon after arriving in Paris, he recorded an album with producer Martin Meissonnier, but, amid talk of unsatisfactory mixes, it remains unreleased.
While still in London in 1984, with his band Afrobeat 2000, Allen recorded the album N.E.P.A. - Never Expect Power Always. The title track was a sardonic commentary on the erratic Lagos power supply which then, and still today, leaves the city at the mercy of regular power cuts. (The body responsible for the supply, or the lack of it, was the Nigerian Electrical Power Authority, hence the acronym).
By the mid 1980s, although few other Nigerian musicians had committed to Afrobeat - "too difficult," says Allen - the music had made a profound influence on the other prominent Nigerian style, juju. Afrobeat's kit drum had become a regular part of juju line-ups (which had until then been dominated by talking drums), and Allen's style was picked up by juju drummers. Juju rhythm guitarists had also adopted Afrobeat's nagging "tenor guitar" riffs. Allen was one of the first to introduce the rhythmic power of Afrobeat to juju. In 1984, he toured with juju superstar Sunny Ade and guested on his 'Aura' album, to which he contributed one of his own songs, "Oremi," and he toured with Ade the following year.
Throughout the 1990s Allen was a sought after session drummer and he collaborated with a range of artists including Randy Weston, Groove Armada, Air, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Manu Dibango and Grace Jones. During the years since Fela's death in 1997 Allen has become recognised as Afrobeat's torch bearer and he is held in reverence by musicians and fans alike. Recently the style has seen an upsurge of interest outside of Nigeria with dedicated clubs opening up in Europe and the USA and groups such as Antibalas and Masters At Work bringing the music to a new public. Allen's albums have become more frequent. 'Black Voices' was released in 1999, followed by 'Home Cooking', 'Tony Allen Live', 'Lagos No Shaking' and now, in 2009, the definitively tough and rocking 'Secret Agent'.
The album with The Good, The Bad & The Queen was released in 2007, but Allen's association with Damon Albarn goes back some half dozen years. It came about after Allen heard the lyric "Tony Allen got me dancing" on Blur's 2000 song "Music is My Radar" and invited Albarn to Lagos to guest on Home Cooking. His association with Albarn continued, and included the African Express events which aimed to introduce African and European musicians to each other and encourage cross-fertilisation of ideas.
Three decades after Allen made those classic albums with Afrika 70, Nigeria remains riven by the same injustices that the band protested against so vividly and courageously. The lot of the urban poor and middle classes is, if anything, worse today than in it was in the 1970s, and Allen had no regrets about basing himself in Paris. "Nigeria's not getting any better. Why else is everyone wanting to come to Europe? It's all misadministration and corruption, survival of the fittest. It's a complete motherf**ker of a place."
"Music is my mission," said Allen. "I never get satisfied and I'm still learning from others. The musical world is very spiritual, and I don't think there's an end to it. As musicians, it's our mission to keep going."
Cosmosis
Tony Allen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Let's talk about the science
Of how things break
How the heart breaks
How the age founders, shatters
With no one listening
How the mind quakes
Oh, the music of the bones
Music of siege and white stones
Let's talk about the art of how things break
Things that were hard to make
Things like peace, and love, and need
How the nations shake
How the good is lost to the fake
Oh, brief change by osmosis
Change and the music of cosmosis
But Sufis sing about the music of how things turn
Things the other ones want to bury or burn
Things like unity, friendship, relativity
Things that when dead, we'll mourn
How the music runs in a stream
How can we in these troubled times dream?
Oh there are spirits dancing in the slipstream
Howl and fire in the drum dream
Yeah, she was looking for a prince
Oh now she's hitting the road
She tried kissing a frog
Oh, now she's licking a toad
Spiritual girl, she's got a story to tell
She taught me to love myself, forget everyone else
Forget and I forgive, I don't give it attention
How you feel about me
Uh, it's just a reflection
I'm out of my ego, I'm back into space
Hold me in your arms and feel the connection
Cosmosis
Cosmosis
Yeah, man
The present moment began with fire
And still, it burns
(Cosmosis)
The present moment began with fire
And still, it burns
(Yeah)
It began with water
(Cosmosis)
And still, they drown
And still, they drown
(Yeah man)
On the margins of Europe
The present moment began with fire
And still, it burns
The present moment began with fire
And still, it burns
It began with water
And still, they drown
Still, they drown
It began with air, see how the bombs fall
On houses made of sand
Dreams made of flesh
She was looking for a prince
Oh now she's hitting the road
She tried kissing a frog
Oh now she's licking a toad
Spiritual girl, she's got a story to tell
She taught me to love myself, forget everyone else
Forget and I forgive, I don't give it attention
How you feel about me?
Uh, it's just a reflection
I'm out of my ego, I'm back into space
Hold me in your arms and feel the connection
Yeah
The world's going to change because cosmosis
Check it out
When will this story of our nation change and shine?
Cosmosis
Cosmosis
The lyrics of “Cosmosis” explore the concept of change and how important it is to acknowledge and understand the breaking down of things, whether it be physically, emotionally or socially. The first verse delves into the scientific aspects of how things break, starting with the heartbreak and how age shatters things without anyone listening. The lyrics then move into how the mind quakes and how we lose everything that matters. The music that accompanies these words is described as the “music of the bones” and the “music of siege and white stones”. The second verse moves onto the art of how things break, emphasising things that were “hard to make” such as peace, love and need. The good is lost to the fake, and change occurs by osmosis. The final verse is about the music of how things turn, focusing on things that are buried or burned by others such as unity, friendship and relativity. The music runs in a stream, and despite the troubled times we currently live in, there are still spirits dancing in the slipstream.
Overall, the song suggests that although change can be difficult and painful, it is necessary for growth and understanding. Each verse highlights the different ways that things can break or be broken, whether it be through science, art or spirituality. The final message seems to be that there is hope even in troubled times, and that change is inevitable and often beautiful.
Line by Line Meaning
Let's talk about the science
Of how things break
How the heart breaks
How the age founders, shatters
With no one listening
How the mind quakes
How we lose all that matters
Oh, the music of the bones
Music of siege and white stones
Let's discuss the science of how things can break down. From the fragility of the heart to the frailty of ageing - all of which can go unnoticed. The music of the changing world is heard even in times of war.
Let's talk about the art of how things break
Things that were hard to make
Things like peace, and love, and need
How the nations shake
How the good is lost to the fake
Oh, brief change by osmosis
Change and the music of cosmosis
Now let's discuss how certain things are so delicate that even art cannot save them from breaking. The peace, love, and unity we create can quickly dissolve in moments of crisis. Although some changes may be brief, they still have music - the music of cosmic change.
But Sufis sing about the music of how things turn
Things the other ones want to bury or burn
Things like unity, friendship, relativity
Things that when dead, we'll mourn
How the music runs in a stream
How can we in these troubled times dream?
Oh there are spirits dancing in the slipstream
Howl and fire in the drum dream
The music of things turning is what Sufis celebrate, even when others are trying to destroy them. Spirituality, friendships, and unity may be intangible, but they're things we'll miss when they're gone. Even in turbulent times, we can dream, and the music can be felt like spirits dancing on the wind.
Yeah, she was looking for a prince
Oh now she's hitting the road
She tried kissing a frog
Oh now she's licking a toad
Spiritual girl, she's got a story to tell
She taught me to love myself, forget everyone else
Forget and I forgive, I don't give it attention
How you feel about me?
Uh, it's just a reflection
I'm out of my ego, I'm back into space
Hold me in your arms and feel the connection
This is a tale about a spiritual girl who learned to love herself first, even though she sought out the wrong things at first. She's unburdened herself from negativity and focuses on the present moment instead. She's letting go of her ego and embracing the cosmic connection to others.
The present moment began with fire
And still, it burns
(Cosmosis)
The present moment began with fire
And still, it burns
(Yeah)
It began with water
(Cosmosis)
And still, they drown
And still, they drown
(Yeah man)
On the margins of Europe
The present is all-consuming, much like fire. The water that gave birth to our existence still drowns us, especially for those living on the fringes of Europe.
The present moment began with fire
And still, it burns
The present moment began with fire
And still, it burns
It began with water
And still, they drown
Still, they drown
It began with air, see how the bombs fall
On houses made of sand
Dreams made of flesh
The present moment is a still-burning fire that first started with fire and water. However, people still drown and face airstrikes even if their homes and dreams are as fleeting as sand.
Yeah
The world's going to change because cosmosis
Check it out
When will this story of our nation change and shine?
Cosmosis
Cosmosis
The change that will transform our world will come from cosmic forces moving together for the good of all people. We hope that the story of our nation will shift into something positive soon, and that will come from the cosmos.
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Ben Okri, Damon Albarn, Joseph Adenuga, Tony Allen
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@NivarnaMonk
“But Sufis sing about, the music of how things turn,
Things the other ones want to bury
Or burn
Thing like unity, friendship, relativity
Things that when dead, we’ll mourn
How the music runs in a stream
How can we in these troubled times..
Dream?
Oh there are spirits.. dancing in the slipstream
Howl and fire in the drum dream”
-Cosmosis
@axiesem
this versions lyrics:
[Tony Allen]
Cosmosis
[Verse 1: Ben Okri]
Let’s talk about the science
Of how things break
How the heart breaks
How the age founders, shatters
With no one listening
How the mind quakes
How we lose all that matters
Oh, the music of the bones
Music of seige and white stones
Let’s talk about the art
Of how things break
Things that were hard to make
Things like peace, and love, and mead
How the nations shape
How the good is lost to the fake
Oh, brief change by osmosis
Change and the music of Cosmosis
[Chorus: Skepta]
Yeah
She was looking for a prince
Oh now she’s hitting the road
She tried kissing a frog
Oh now she’s licking a toad
Spiritual girl, she’s got a story to tell
She taught me to love myself, forget everyone else
Forget and I forgive, I don’t give it attention
How you feel about me?
Uh, It's just a reflection
I’m out of my ego, I’m back into space
Hold me in your arms and feel the connection
[Bridge: Tony Allen]
Cosmosis
Cosmosis
Yeah, man
[Verse 2: Ben Okri & Tony Allen]
The present moment began with fire
And still, it burns
The present moment began with fire
And still, it burns
It began with water
And still, they drown, still, they drown
It began with air, see how the bombs fall
On houses made of sand
Dreams made of flesh
[Chorus: Skepta]
She was looking for a prince
Oh now she’s hitting the road
She tried kissing a frog
Oh now she’s licking a toad
Spiritual girl, she’s got a story to tell
She taught me to love myself, forget everyone else
Forget and I forgive, I don’t give it attention
How you feel about me?
Uh, It's just a reflection
I’m out of my ego, I’m back into space
Hold me in your arms and feel the connection
[Outro: Tony Allen & Ben Okri]
Yeah
The world’s going to change because Cosmosis
Check it out
When will this story of our nation
Change and shine?
Cosmosis
Cosmosis
(Muffled)
Oh there are spirits dancing in the slipstream
Howl and fire in a drum dream
@axiesem
Let’s talk about the science
Of how things break
How the heart breaks
How the age founders, shatters
With no one listening
How the mind quakes
How we lose all that matters
Oh, the music of the bones
Music of siege and white stones
Let’s talk about the art
Of how things break
Things that were hard to make
Things like peace, and love, and need
How the nations shape
How the good is lost to the fake
Oh, brief change by osmosis
Change the music of Cosmosis
Yeah
She was looking for a prince
Oh now she’s hitting the road
She tried kissing a frog
Oh now she’s licking a toad
Spiritual girl, she’s got a story to tell
She taught me to love myself, forget everyone else
Forget and I forgive, I don’t give it attention
How you feel about me?
Uh, Its just a reflection
I’m out of my ego, I’m back into space
Hold me in your arms and feel the connection
Cosmosis
Cosmosis
Yeah, man
The present moment began with fire
And still it burns
The present moment began with fire
And still it burns
It began with water
And still it drowns, still they drown
It began with air, see how the bombs fall
On houses made of sand
Dreams made of flesh
She was looking for a prince
Oh now she’s hitting the road
She tried kissing a frog
Oh now she’s licking a toad
Spiritual girl, she’s got a story to tell
She taught me to love myself, forget everyone else
Forget and I forgive, I don’t give it attention
How you feel about me?
Uh, Its just a reflection
I’m out of my ego, I’m back into space
Hold me in your arms and feel the connection
Yeah
The world’s going to change because Cosmosis
Check it out
When will this story of our nation
Change and shine?
Cosmosis
Cosmosis
@TheHolyNazareth
“The present moment began with fire but still it burns”. Yeah man, this is pure greatness. Thanks Tony.
@rosemaryclunie3413
Great words written by Ben Okri
@lisasvensson4740
@@rosemaryclunie3413 qq
@mickey4125
Do you ever hear a track that makes you feel like music's reached it's peak and nothing will ever top it?
Yeah. That's how this track makes me feel. Truly cosmic man, this is absolutely amazing.
@ceesleeper81
another songs that make u feel like that??
@juniorfriday
I listened to this song on a loop for 4 hours. It speaks directly to the Futurepeople. To the self-actualized. To those of us who view time from the POV of the universe. Its transcendental.
Tony Allen was still growing when he died. He evolved with the music, rather than fighting change. Amazing track.
@judenfisch
very true
@cnock6519
wow man more people need to know about this song!
@ryrilo5078
Father Allen is one of the greats..Legend.
@marinhoxha02
Skepta never misses! What a tune!