Tony Allen by Tony Allen with Michael Veal

8/22/2019 Tony Allen by Tony Allen with Michael Veal

1/23

An Autobiography of the

Master DruMMer

of afrobeat

tonyallentony allenwith Michael e. Veal


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Praise forTony Allen

There would be no Arobeat without Tony Allen.

FelA AnikulApo-kuTi

The reatest livin drummer as ar as Im concerned.

BriAn eno

There is no question that Tony Allen is a enius, one o the

reatest percussionists in the history o popular music.

roBin Denselow,The Guada

When Tony Allen and Arika 70 play, the unk really does

seem like it could o on orever.

pAT BlAshill,rllg ste

In the 1970s Mr. Allens drummin put the central beat

in Felas Arobeat. With o beats on the bass drum and

accents stagered between hi-hat cymbal and snare drum,

his splintered but orceul mid-tempo strut was part

parade, part shue, and part unk.

Jon pAreles,The new yk Tme

Tony Allen, who alon with vocalist/activist Fela Kuti

created one o roove musics most lorious subenres,

Arobeat, deserves a place on the list o reatest unk

drummers o all time. For more than orty years he has

been honin a distinctive style that crackles with vitality,

pulsates with rhythmic wit, and pushes audiences intodance-party ecstasy.

Mde Dummemagaz


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Tony Allen is best known as the hands and eet behind

Fela Kutis explosive Arobeat, and his playin is both

abulously propulsive and melodic, in a way that miht

seem paradoxical, but makes perect sense once youve ot

your eet in motion. . . . Simultaneously breakin up the

rhythms and reassemblin them in one loose-limbed, easy

rockin motion, his playin is at once apparently eortless

and breathtakin.

MArk huDson,The Dal Telegaph

Were someone to lend me a time-machine to catch

reat bands o the past, Fela and Allens Arika 70 band

in Laos circa 1972 would be one o the frst stops. It was

then [that] Bootsy Collins, James Browns bass player, went

backstae and told [band members that] they were the

unkiest cats on the planet and Paul McCartney, in Laos

to record Band on the Run, said they were the best liveband hed ever seen.

peTer CulshAw,The obeve

An octopus-like polyrhythmic machine, Allen was to

Fela and Arobeat what Melvin Parker/Jabo Starks/Clyde

Stubblefeld were to James Brown and unk: These drum-

mers simply deepened and chaned the pocket o popular

music orever.

MATT roGers,The Vllage Vce

Few percussionists . . . can claim to have invented a

rhythmbut thats what Allen did when he added his

propulsive rhythms to the music o Kuti and toether they

created the sound the world came to know as Arobeat.

niGel williAMson,The idepedet


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5/23

Tony AllenAn Autobiography of the

MAsTer DruMMer

oF AFroBeAT

Tony Allen with MiChAel e. VeAl

Duke University Press

Durham and ondon 2013


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2013 Duke University Pressll rights reserved

Printed in the United tates of merica

on acid-free paper

Designed by Heather Hensley

Typeset in Whitman by

Tseng nformation ystems, nc.

ibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

llen, Tony, 1940Tony llen : an autobiography of the master drummer

of afrobeat / Tony llen ; with ichael E. Veal.

pages cm

ncludes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8223-5577-9 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-0-8223-5591-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. llen, Tony, 1940 2. Drummers (usicians)

igeriaiography. 3. frobeatiography.

. Veal, ichael E., 1963 . Title.

ML399.A455A3 2013

786.9092dc23 [B]

2013013821


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T A

I would like to dedicate this book to my parents,

Mr. James Alabi Allen and Mrs. Prudentia Anna Allen.

Mca e. Va

I would like to dedicate this book to the memory

of my father, Mr. Henry Veal (19252011),

a great man and great father who will always be

the most important drummer in my life.


8/23

ctt

ix acdgmt

1 tdct b Mca e. Va

21 cat riGhT in The CenTer oF lAGos

36 cat t hiGhliFe TiMe

47 cat t The sky wAs The liM iT

68 cat f GoD s own CounTry

85 cat fv swinGinG like hell!

108 cat x eVeryThinG sCATTer

128 cat v proGress

146 cat gt when one roAD Cl ose . . .

162 cat pAris Blues

175 cat t no enD To Business

187 ctd fc

193 dx


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riGhT in The CenTer oF lAGos

I was born Tony Oladipo Allen in Lagos on July 20, 1940,

and I rew up in the area called Laaji, riht in the center o

Laos Island. y amily lived at number 15, Okusuna Street.

Lafaji was a good area. It was very near to what we called

the Race Course in those days. Today they call it Taewa Balewa

Square. Kins Collee is in that area, too. Later on, my amily

moved to Ebute-etta, on the mainland.y athers name was James Alabi Allen. He was a Nierian,

a Yoruba rom Abeokuta. We dont exactly know how the name

Allen came into my athers amily, but its probably a slavers

name. It must have come either rom my great-grandather or

rom his own ather, because one o them was among those

people rescued by the British slave patrols in Sierra Leone.

Many o the slaves that were taken rom Nigeria and rescued

by the slave patrolsespecially the Ebas that were taken romAbeokutathey would drop them in Sierra Leone. Thats why

today my athers amily still has a place in Sierra Leone. I re-

member that once when I was arrivin in Britain, the immira-

tion ofcer looked at me suspiciously and asked where I ot the

name Allen. I just looked at him and lauhed and told him, I

wish I could know my real name. Because the name Allen is

coming rom you guys. You gave me my name, historically, so

why are you askin me where I ot this name rom? He kept hismouth shut ater that.

1


10/23

22 Capt 1

My athers ather, Adolphus Allen, was a prominent man in Lagos.

Allen Avenue in Ikeja is named ater him. I dont know too much about

him because I was only two years old when he died. What I do know is

that he was a cleryman who ounded a church called Bethel Cathedral,

which is on Broad Street on Laos Island. Beore that he was a police-man, and he must have passed throuh some hard thins workin with

the white uys back then, because it was his will that none o his children

would become policemen, and none o them did. My grandather also

owned a bi piece o armland in Ikeja, on the outskirts o Laos. That

land was later sold by my ather and his brothers to the Laos State ov-

ernment, and the overnment built the Airport Hotel on it. It was also

part o that land, but on the other side o Obaemi Awolowo Way, that

my ather sold to Fela years later. In the old times, that was the smallerpart o the arm.

y mothers name was Prudentia Anna ettle. She was born in Laos

as one o the dauhters o the Ghanaian settlers in those days. Her par-

ents and randparents had settled in Nieria way back, probably in the

1800s. y mothers mother was rom Keta, Ghana. So my mother spoke

Ga and Ewe, and believe it or not, she could even speak Yoruba better

than my ather! As or me, I grew up in Lagos speaking Ga, Ewe, and

Yoruba. In those times, most o the Ghanaian settlers were fshermen,and they lived on Victoria Island. Back in the old days, Victoria Island was

a real shermens villae. Think about environments like Hawaii with all

the beaches and shermens hutsthat is what Victoria Island was like

beore they developed it into what it is today.

There were six o us children in all, and I am the oldest one. The one

right under me is my brother Adebisi. Hes an aeronautics engineer,

working or British Airways in London and Lagos. The next one ater

him is my brother Olatunji, who is a civil servant in London. Ater himis my brother Olukunmi, who is a doctor in London. Ater Olukunmi is

my sister Jumoke, who is a head nurse in Boston, in the United States.

And the baby o us all is my sister Enitan, who is a trader in Lagos, in

the market. I also have a hal-brother rom my ather. Hes called Tunde

and hes a mechanic in Germany. Since I mysel have been in Paris or

twenty-ve years, you can see that we have all spread out rom Nieria,

across the world.

We all have Yoruba names, but since our mother was rom Ghana, weeach have a Ghanaian name too. For example, my brother Adebisi is also

called Ko, and my sister Enitan is also called A. As or me, there are


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rgt t Ct f lag 23

people in Laos today who still know me as Kwame, because I was born

on a Saturday and thats the customary name in Ghana i you were born

on that day. y amily on my mothers side all call me Kwame.

aybe bein a dual breed like that is why Ive always done my own

thin. Ive always been independent. Like when it comes to clothes, Imsomebody that always liked dressin casually, ever since I was youn. I

simply like casual dressin. But it was the pride o all my colleaues I was

rowin up with to have these ancy Yoruba attires, these bi agbadas and

all that stu. I you want to talk about our own traditional Yoruba cloth-

in, you have to have about three layers to put on, maybe our. First you

put on the normal singlet (sleeveless undershirt) underneath, or the per-

spiration. Then you put on the one called buba. Thats the one with short

sleeves. Ater that you put dansiki on top, which is the third layer. Andstill, you must put agbada on top o that. Then its complete. And some

people can even put some lihter materials on top o that! Thats the tra-

dition. Even all o my brothers love it. But or me, I preer to pick what I

like, dress casually, and o by my own style. I mean, dressin is not really

part o what I think about. I can dress eleantly i I want to. But Im not

really puttin a lot o enery into styles and all that. I just want to be com-

ortable, thats all.

But the Yorubas are really into conormity. For example, every timewhen there is any occasion, like a uneral or whatever, they have to cele-

brate and throw a bi party. And every roup at the party has to have very

specifc garments. Like maybe this side is the mothers side o amily.

The amily will tell them that they should dress in a certain style. And

then on the athers side, they will tell them to choose another style. The

amily will brin the sample cloth out to the amily and tell you, This

is what we are choosin or the occasion and this is how much it costs.

Its not like here in the West, where you can just put on a regular suitor any occasion. You have to have the arments made in a certain style,

and every section o the amily has to wear the same stu. That means

its onna cost you to be at that party, because you have to et this stu

made. And then you only use it that one time. For a dierent occasion,

you have to et a whole new set o clothes made. I its not a uneral, its a

newborn baby. I its not a newborn baby, its a weddin. I its not a wed-

din, its the openin o a new house. And some people dont even have

all this ucking money! They have to go borrow this money, just to be parto this occasion. I never played this ame, man. Its one ame I detested

completely rom home.


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24 Capt 1

In the old days, I always preerred to o or the normal Enlish suit,

without the tie. And ater a while, even the suit itsel became a bi prob-

lem or me, because it was becomin too heavy in the climate. It was like

punishment or me in that climate. You know what I mean? I elt like

I couldnt handle that. Thats why back in the 70s, I was dressin withthe jeans with the short cuto vest. Sometimes I would come into Felas

house and he would look at me and say, Allenko, you know what you

look like? You look like those ones in the North that drive the cows. Like

a cowboy! Its the cowboys that dress like this. He was tryin to tell me

that I looked bush. And I would tell him, Well, as lon as it looks nice

on me, I dont care. I love it like this! Its just that I always had my own

outlook, even beore I ot into music. Thats my basic personality. I like

to be mysel. And I wouldnt have made my own way in lie i I wasntlike that.

I grew up ast because I was the oldest one. I took care o all my brothers

and sisters, especially the two riht behind me. y mother let me do that

rom the ae o about eiht. Sometimes I used to sit in the kitchen with

her and the other housewives rom the neihborhood, and I would cook

riht alon with them. The other housewives were a little jealous o that.

They always used to tell my mother that she was spoilin me and that I

wouldnt respect women in the uture i I could do their work or them.But it was ood or me because Ive always been a ood cook and have

always been able to take care o mysel. I wasnt really brouht up with

Nierian cookin, because I was brouht up by a Ghanaian mother. On

the other hand, my ather was a Nierian, a Yoruba uy rom Abeokuta,

and he had his own way o eatin, which he could have preerred. But my

mother did the cookin, and she had to satisy my ather. He must be able

to enjoy his dinner, and I never heard him complain a day in his lie. That

tells you somethin about my mothers cookin! And thats why or me, Iam cookin more on the Ghanaian side than the Nierian side. The Gha-

naians have their own approach to recipes, which is dierent rom the

Nierians. Dierent inredients. So i I say I want to cook Arican ood,

youll really be havin two thins in onepart Nierian, part Ghanaian.

When I was eihteen, my mother let and went to Ghana or a while,

and took Jumoke and Olukunmi with her. That let me to take care o

the house and the rest o the kids. I was cookin or everybody, even my

ather. He used to o to work and leave money or me to buy ood, be-cause he couldnt even ry an e! So I did everythin around the house

or a year and a hal, until my mother came back.


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rgt t Ct f lag 25

I was even driving rom around the age o thirteen. But the way I

started is a real story! You see, my ather specialized in automobiles, and

he used to have jobs at home sometimes, because people would bring

their cars to him instead o taking them to the workshop, where they

knew they would be chared much more or the workmanship and thematerials. So this particular day, one uy was supposed to come and col-

lect his car while my ather was at work. And because the kids were on

midterm holidays, I was at home. y ather ave me the keys to the car

and told me that i this uy came, I should ive him the keys so he could

take his car.

On that particular day the car was riht in ront o the house, and the

sun was really hot. But there was a big tree right across the street, in ront

o the Catholic school. So this uy rom the neihborhood who was kindo like a bi brother to meI was thirteen and this uy was maybe like

twenty-vehe came to tell me that there was too much sun on the car

and that I should move the car under the tree. I didnt know anything

about drivin cars, nothin at all. But since he was a rown- up and I was

only thirteen, I couldnt think quickly or mysel to ask, What the uck

is this uy tellin me? The car is not suerin!

So I just took the key and opened the door to the car. I thouht I would

start it and then try to put it in ear. But it was already in ear! The cartook o, and there was no way I could control anythin. I was just lucky

that there was no oncomin car. I was able to cross to the other side o

the street, but the trunk o that tree was riht in ront o a utter, and I

went toward there. I meant to stop under the tree, butno way. And at

the same time, there was a woman with a baby comin out o the mater-

nity hospital that was just down the road. I brushed the woman with the

car, and she ell into the open utter with the baby in her hands. And the

baby was just one week old!Luckily or me, there was this uy pushin a hand truck or street cart,

what we call omolanke. They used to use it to carry heavy loads on the

road. The uy took o runnin, but he let his omolanke sittin there, and

when I hit it, that was what stopped the car. eanwhile, the woman was

lying in the gutter with a one-week-old baby and a broken leg. They called

or an ambulance and took her to the hospital. And then they called the

trafc police. And o course the uy who told me to move the car had dis-

appeared completely, and he didnt come back to the house until twelveoclock in the niht! The police came, parked the car properly, took me

to the police station, and phoned my ather. They couldnt put me in the


14/23

26 Capt 1

cell because I was too youn, so they put me behind the counter. When

my ather came they ave me bail and released me with him, but a court

case was on now because that woman with the baby had been admitted

into the hospital.

At the end o the day it was a Yoruba thing, and my ather wantedto settle the police matter through the back door. But it took time on

the police side, because it was a case or them. The chare was drivin

without a license, and reckless endanerment. They told my ather that I

should appear in the police station every mornin beore oin to school.

And this went on and on. Even ater the holidays it continued. We even

went there on Saturdays. It was really just a matter o corruption, because

my ather had to pay them some money every time we went.

y ather was tryin to pay to scrap the case, but it wasnt that easybecause the bi uys there were white men and you couldnt just scrap

a court case like that. On the other hand, i they ound out that I drove

a car, I miht have ended up in welare (i.e., child services). Finally, the

police told us that we had to see the inspector, who was an Ibo uy. y

ather ave money to this inspector, and they still didnt scrap the case.

They were still makin us come every mornin, and my ather was still

paying. And we werent even going to the station anymore, but to the

house o the inspector in the barracks!Luckily or us, this white sergeant came in one day and said, I see

these people here every daywhat is the problem? What are the chares

aainst them? The inspector told him that I had pushed an omolanke

into a woman and the woman ell into a utter. He said it like that be-

cause he wanted to keep takin money rom us every day, but i he told

them I drove a car they miht take me and put me into welare. So the

sereant said, This boy pushed a hand truck? What the hell is he doin

here!? And he told my ather that rom then on, we shouldnt come backthere anymore. So, luckily or me, I ot out o that one!

This was one time that I thouht my ather was comin to eliminate

me completely. I thouht Id be dead! But he never touched me! I think

it was because he never looked at it like somethin normal that I would

do on my own, cause I had explained everythin to him. I was not even

thinkin that the car was in the sun. This uy came to put it in my head

and I ell or it because I didnt have my own thinkin cap in order at that

time. And the day that all this shit happened, they were lookin or theguy til about midnight. He never even came back home to his own amily

to eat. Everybody was waitin or him, so he came back in the middle o


15/23

rgt t Ct f lag 27

the niht and he had to ace his own amily that were askin him, What

the uck have you done!? y ather understood what was oin on. He

was not a wicked uy, he was a very nice uy. He would never think to

beat us unless our mother reported us to him.

My mother was Catholic and very, very religious. When I was veryyoun she sent me to a Catholic school called St. Pauls, in Ebute-etta.

I was servin on the altar with the reverend athers every Sunday, and

it seemed like I was bowin to everythin. But as soon as I let school,

that was it. I seldom o to church as an adult, and i I do decide to o, I

miht all asleep in the middle o the mass, because I probably will have

just nished playin in a club on Saturday niht and one to church di-

rectly rom there. Its not that I dont believe in God. I believe in God, but

I rarely o to church.So I must be a bit like my ather. He was a Protestant, but this is a uy

that I never saw put his eet in the church. y mother was the only one

oin to church. I remember that when I was six, the reverend athers

and reverend sisters came to our house to preach to my ather. Even i he

wouldnt convert, they were preachin to him that he should come and

marry my mother in the Catholic church. It took some time, but later

he areed to do it. That was the only day I ever saw his eet in a church.

But he was a uy who prayed every day. He had a Bible and he used towake us up to pray the Psalms every mornin beore he went to work. It

was just that he didnt want to deal with all the politics o the church. I

youre not attendin church reularly and you die, they wont bury you,

but he used to say he didnt ive a shit about that. He always told us that

when he died, we should just throw his body onto the street because we

would just be dealin with the body, not the real him! That was always

his joke. And years later, when he died, we did have to go and wrestle

with the church and pay a certain amount or all his back dues so that hecould et a proper burial.

My mt ddt pay ay tumt, but my fat payd guta ad mad a a bby,

so we had instruments at home when I was rowin up. y ather never

played proessionally, but he had riends who were musicians, and he

kept those uitars so he could play with them. In the evenin when he

wanted to entertain us, he ave his riends the uitars and he picked upthe mandolin so they could play as a trio. At that time, thejuju music was

starting to develop among the Christian Yorubas. What my ather was


16/23

28 Capt 1

playin with his riends was like an early juju type o thin, the kind o

juju that doesnt have electric guitar or bass or keyboard. Just acoustic

uitar or mandolin or banjo, and somebody would just play a bottle and

another one would play the percussion.

J. O. Oyesiku was one o the musicians who used to come by. He wasa ood riend o the amily. Sometimes on the weekends I would o with

my brothers to visit him, and his wie would cook or us. Oyesiku was a

soldier in the army, but he didnt live in the barracks. Ater he retired he

moved to Ibadan, and thats when he really had time to ollow up with his

musical career. Another one o our amily riends was Julius O. Araba. His

proession, really, was as a dratsman, working or the Nigerian Railways.

He did music as a hobby, but his music was stron and he was much more

popular or his music than or his dratin!Besides mysel, my brother Olukunmi was the only one o us who tried

to ollow up on the music thin. He was ood uitarist, and he had a band

when he was studyin medicine in the university, called the Clinics! As

a matter o act, when I started my own band years later and my uitar-

ist was not oin to be around, I would o meet him on the campus and

ive him a cassette and say, Listen to thisour days rom now youll

be onstae with me! And he would come and play as my uitarist, just

like that. We spent our years that way. But he never wanted to play pro-essionally. When they nished as medical students, the Clinics all went

their separate ways. Nowadays, Kunmi just has a uitar at home to amuse

himsel.

When we were rowin up we also used to listen to a thin we called

mambo that was happenin at that time. Im not talkin about the Cuban

mambo. This one was like a percussion and anare style, like parade

music. You had dierent percussion instruments with the bass drum

played with the one-sided beater, and the kind o snare drum that youhan around the neck. And then you had trumpets and maybe trombone,

or sometimes tuba. It was most common on Christmas Day, amon the

Ewes in Lagos. It was really the Christian Ewes that got this mambo thing

oin in Laos, so every Christmas Day, we would see that on the street.

That was the voue. Apart rom that, i you were havin a party, then you

could hire a mambo band or the party. Thats when you could watch the

band sittin down and playin instead o paradin throuh the streets.

At the same time, on the uslim Yoruba side, there was apala and sa-kara. Those were just drums and voices, plus in apala they use the agi-

digbo (bass thumb piano), and in sakara they use thegoje, which is kind o


17/23

rgt t Ct f lag 29

like a native violin. I mysel used to play the aidibo as a child, too. One

o our neighbors used to love it when we boys would gather ourselves

together at night and do our apala thing with agidigbo, bottle, maybe

some tin cans, and we would sin too. In act, she liked it so much that

she even ave us money to buy our own aidibo. When youre talkinabout apala, Haruna Ishola was really the master, man. Its like classi-

cal music or us. The lyrics o this uy are incredible. I you could only

understand what that guy was singing about, mantoo many things!

Thins about lie, like proverbs. Apart rom the sinin, when you check

the way this uy composes the rhythmical lanuae, its owin because

the instruments are not all playing the same thing there. Its a kind o

interwoven lanuae, so its very interestin. Its like a conversation. But

when we were doin those thins, I never thouht in my lie that I wouldturn out to be a musician. I didnt want to be one o these aidibo uys,

playin apala and all that. It was just a question o havin kicks imitatin

those uys and tryin to sin like them. But I did really love drummin.

At home, I used to set chairs up and play on them, just kind o amusin

mysel. And rom my elementary school days at St. Pauls, I used to play

snare drum in the school marching band. I held onto that or as long I was

in elementary school. But I nished primary school when I was twelve,

and then I orot about music completely. That was around 1953.Ater that, I went to secondary school to study. But by my third year,

it was too touh or me. To be honest, I wasnt ready or it. I was tired

o learnin all these thins that didnt seem relevant. I couldnt see what

I was going to do with Latin and all those things. And the teacher was

really becomin a pain in the neck, man. Thats the way I was lookin at

it at that time. In act, I went to my ather one day and said, I am oin

to beat up the teacher. And my ather said, No, you cannot do that! So

I went back, but one day I just said, No more. That was in 1957. Thenmy ather asked me, What is it that you want to do now? I told him I

wanted to be an automobile mechanic. I wanted to be under the cars,

working with the engines. Thats what my ather did, and thats what I

wanted to do. But he told me, Youno, never! He didnt think I was

built to deal with those heavy enines. He thouht I would have been a

painter, like an artist, because I used to draw a lot in my spare time. He

thouht I would be doin that. I didnt want to o that direction, but I

thouht, maybe Ill be an architectural dratsman, like Araba. So my par-ents sent me to school with a private teacher who had eiht students.

I had been oin to this school or about six months, and I was pro-


18/23

30 Capt 1

ressin, drawin nicely. Then one day, I noticed that there was an elec-

trical switch on the wall. It was completely broken, and it was danerous.

You know, in my childhood I used to play around with electricityxin

wires and batteries and light bulbs. So I had dierent components at

home, and I told my teacher that I had a brand-new switch that I couldinstall or him, and it was only going to cost him two shillings and six

pence. In those days my tuition ee was one pound, and one pound was

equal to twenty shillins. This was beore Nieria switched to the naira

currency. So I ot my switch and I xed the problem, and I wanted him

to pay me. He kept tellin me, Ill et it to you, but he never paid me.

Every day he says hell ive me the money. I said nothin.

At the end o the month, my ather ave me the money to pay or the

next month, because you have to pay in advance. So what I did was takethe one-pound note and chane the money, and I deducted my two shil-

lins and six pence and I ave my teacher the rest. And he ipped out

completely! He said, Hey, whats this? I said, I just took my money

out o the one pound. He shouted, No! You can never do that! You have

to ive me my one pound or the month! I told you, I will ive you your

money. I said, But its over one month now since I put this switch in.

The teacher said he was not onna accept that. So I said okay, and I ave

him his ull pound. And then I took my screwdriver out and I took omy switch and I put it in my box and that was it. He saw this and he

said, What?! Because this uy was runnin the school in his own home,

his parents and randparents were there. He started yellin, ommy,

mommy, mommycome and look at this! Come and look at what Allen

has done! So I let the ucking switch like that, and I told him, Now

youre gonna buy the switch, the electrician is gonna fx it, and youre

onna pay or both. I did it like that diplomatically, because I didnt want

to ht the uy. And I took my ba and walked out. So that was the endo dratin school.

I went back home and narrated the whole story to my ather. And he

said, Okay. What next? He asked i I wanted to look or another drat-

in school. I thouht about it and told him that I wanted to o to an elec-

tronics school. So I had to start all over aain, readin a whole new type

o literature and taking notes or the examsfrst or the theory and

then or the practical. I studied or about one year and a hal and then

I got a job. My uncle I. K. Mettle was the chie engineer o a Germanradio company called Witt & Busch, and he ot me employment there.

So I worked as a radio technician or about our years. We were buildin


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amplierssix-valve, heavy-output ampliers. Riht now I could coolly

build a six-valve amplier mysel, no problem. That took me riht up to

the end o 1960.

At t am tm tat i wa dg t ctc wk, i tatd gg ut a t at gt, caw-

ing the pubs. I was making some money o my own, and at that time,

man, Lagos was swinging! There were so many clubs and great bands

around in those times, and they were all going twenty- our hours. On

Saturdays especially, nobody slept. We had the White Horse, the Lido,

and the Western Top on Aee otor Road. The Empire Hotel was also

on Aee otor Road, and thats where Fela later made the Arika Shrine

in the 1970s. We had the Ambassador and the Gondola in Yaba. Therewas Bobby Bensons Caban Bamboo on Ikorodu Road. Then we had the

Central Hotel and the Kakadu on Herbert acauley Road in Alaomeji.

The Kakadu was where Fela later made the Aro-Spot durin the Koola

Lobitos times in the 60s. I mysel miht crawl three or our pubs in the

niht, just checkin out the bands, because Laos was ull o reat bands!

They were all playin hihlie, but playin it in dierent styles. The bi

bandleaders at that time were Victor Olaiya, Cardinal Rex Lawson, E. C.

Arinze, Steven Amaechi, Eddie Okonta, Au Norris, Eric Onuha, and BillFriday. Those were the bands rulin the country back then.

You miht not believe this, but Nierians used to o to school in those

days to learn ballroom dancing. When they fnished with work, they went

to learn quickstep, tano, waltz, oxtrot, and all those dances. And then

there was the highlie, o course. Highlie is in straight meter, meaning its

in 4/4. And everybody responds to 4/4 beats quickly. I it was a slow one,

the couple would dance close toether. I it was a ast one, the women

would stick their bottoms out and shake them, while the guys behindwere caressin it slowly. That is why the bands had to know how to play

all o these styles. And the people would be dressed in evenin clothes

men were wearin suits and ties and women were wearin dresses. I my-

sel had to dress that way, with a suit and tie. Its totally dierent com-

pared to what we have there now, a completely dierent world.

During the time that I was working with my uncle, I also did some dee-

jayin or parties and private aairs. I you want to deejay, you have to

buy records, and you have to be a record lover yoursel. y uncle had alot o highlie records rom Ghana, and also a lot o Latin American music

on those labels like g and M. But he wasnt oin to be deejayin any-


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32 Capt 1

where. He would just drive me there with the equipment and everythin,

and pick me up aterwards. So I had somethin to do every weekend be-

cause I worked on Saturdays and Sundays. I was mainly playing Ghanaian

highlies, like E. T. Mensah, the Ramblers, and the Stargazers. Those were

deep, deep recordswicked recordsand they were very popular. AndI was playing Nigerian highlies like Bobby Benson, Victor Olaiya, and

Cardinal Rex Lawson.

Im telling youit was antastic, man! Complete enjoyment! They

would booze me up completely at these parties. I would be drunk even

beore nishin the party! You cannot compare those parties with what

they call parties here in Europe. Because in Laos we used to have out-

door parties, and they could o rom one niht to the next mornin. We

were playin music out there with all the neihbors around, but nobodywas oin to complain because they too were enjoyin whats oin on.

Even i they were asleep, they were enjoying the music in their sleep!

They would never have said that it was noisy. But you could not do that

here in Paris. Try to set up a band or a deejay out here in ront o this

apartment buildin, and everybody would be in jailyou wouldnt even

get through one tune! So you can see the enjoyment o what we had there

in Nieria. It was really like a paradise! y prayer is to see Laos back

like it was then. Even i we can et back just one- quarter o what we hadin those times, I think I will o back.

Through going around to all the clubs and playing those records at

parties, I was just checking out the music thing. And when I started

taking up an instrument, the frst one was the guitar. The second one

was the ddle bass, the upriht. And the third one was tenor sax. But I

ot discouraed. y ners were swellin up with blisters. And with the

sax, my lips ot cut up by the reed. It wasnt comortable at all.

Actually, the drum set was my aim. I wasnt playing yet, but I wasalready checkin out all the hihlie drummers. At that time, I really ad-

mired those uys like James eneh, Oje Neke, John Bull, and Femi Ban-

kole. It was their dexterity that I admired. There was also a drummer

that used to play with Bill Friday who was called Anex, who had very

good technique. He was a real tight drummer who could make you dance,

and you could even dance to his solos. I used to love to watch Anex play

with Bill on Sundays at the Teatime Dance, which was at the Ambassa-

dor Hotel.So I wanted to play the drums, but it wasnt easy to just sit down at

anybodys drum set. No way, man. You had to have some kind o connec-


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tion to be able to reach those drums! So I decided to use the radio as my

connection, since I was known as a radio technician. One day I met a uy

named Akanni Pereira, who bouht a radio at the place I was workin.

He asked me i I would come and x the antenna or him in his home. He

ave me the address and I walked to his house ater work. I was just try-in to make some extra money in my spare time. When I ot to his com-

pound, I ound out that he was a musician. In act, he was one o the best

uitarists in town. He was playin with Victor Olaiya and the Cool Cats,

and the band was residin in Olaiyas compound, which was like a hostel

or the musiciansnot all o them, but the important ones, the iants o

the band, like Akanni; Tex Oluwa, who was the bassist; and Sivor Law-

son, who played the saxophone. All the instruments were there as well.

At niht, they were playin at the Cool Cats Inn on Abule-Nla Road oApapa Road, in Ebute-etta. It was run by a uy named r. Biney, who

was a lawyer and who also owned the only zoo in Laos.

So Olaiya comes in, and by the time I fnished my work, the entire

band had arrived or rehearsal and the music started. BoomI became a

spectator riht away! I had nished up my work, but I was oblied to stay

all the way to the end o the rehearsal. I was watchin the entire band,

but I was really lookin at the drummer. He was a uy called Osho, and

he was one o the best drummers at that time. So at the end o the re-hearsal I asked Akanni to introduce me to this drummer because I would

like to learn how to play the drums. And he did. I asked Osho i he would

teach me how to play the drums and i we could discuss a tuition ee. He

told me that I had to pay him ten pounds or the studies. So the bread I

was takin rom Akanni or the job I came to do, I asked him to ive that

money to Osho or me.

We arranged or the lessons to start, and Osho told me to buy my

own drumsticks. So when I was comin back rom work the next day Iwent to Kinsway department store on Broad Street on Laos Island and

bouht my rst drumsticks. Then I went back to Akannis compound and

waited or them to nish their rehearsal. And when they nished the re-

hearsal I took my frst lesson. Oshos setup was kick, snare, toms, and ride

cymbals. I had to train my muscles because it was painul at frstmy leg

muscles ot kind o sti.

The rst thin Osho tauht me was how to play the hihlie, which is

mainly played on the snare, with accents and rolls, and sometimes thekick or the tom-toms. Then the second lesson was a rumba, and the third

was the waltz, in slow time. But suddenly Osho stopped showin up or


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34 Capt 1

my lessons. What could I do? One day Olaiyas saxophonist, Peter Kin,

walked in and he said, Ah, Allen. Every day I come and you keep repeat-

in the same thins. And I told him that Osho never showed up or any

more o my lessons. So Peter said, Let me teach you to play the mambo,

just so you can progress. And he sat on the drums and he showed me howto play mambo. Were talkin about the Cuban mambo now. And so now

I had our rhythmsmambo, waltz, hihlie, and rumba.

I was learnin quickly, but like I said, Osho never came to teach me

aain. I would wait and wait, but since I was livin with my parents, they

used to et mad when I stayed out too lon. There wasnt any telephone

there, and they ot worried. I had just a ew lessons, and then that was

it. So I became discouraed, and I went back to my job. But then Olaiya

himsel ave me a part-time job playin cles or the Cool Cats at niht.He liked me a lot because Id been introduced by Akanni, plus I used to

repair his own radio or him too. So he just said, Come and play with us,

man, and earn some extra bread. I did it or maybe six months, but it was

ucking tough. Because we would fnish playing like two oclock in the

niht on Laos Island, but my amily had moved to Ebute-etta on the

mainland by this time. By the time everythin was completely nished,

I usually arrived back home like ve oclock. Then I had to be back at my

job at eiht oclock. I ound mysel allin asleep at work with the solder-in iron in my hand, and one day I dropped it on mysel. I realized that

this was becomin too much or meI couldnt keep doin it. Its noth-

in to play cles in a band, anyway. Its like the lowest position in a band. I

wouldnt quit my job to play cles. So I went to Olaiya and told him nicely

that it was too touh or me because I wasnt ettin any sleep. He under-

stood. I ave them back my uniorm and we all stayed riends. I stuck to

my job workin as a radio technician and oin to the clubs at niht.

But one day I became ed up with this job too, because o a Germanuy there who was my superior and who was always complainin about

me to the boss. I put up with him or a lon time, but he was ettin on

my nerves and I couldnt stand him anymore. The problem was that I ate

in the same place where he ate, at Kinsway, where they had a restaurant

inside that everyone would o to. Every time I was eatin there he was

coming in there and asking me what I was doing eating there. And so every

time I arrived back at work, the bi boss would always ask me i I went

there to eat at worktime. I told him, Yes, motheruckersometimes, be-cause I dont eat normally like everybody. I have my own proram inside

me which means I dont have breakast and I must have somethin inside


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me like snacks or somethin. That was because I always had a very sen-

sitive stomach. But this German uy kept on me every time. One day it

became physical, because I was readin an electronics book and he came

rom behind me, stood riht behind me, and just rabbed the book rom

me. So when I ot up rom my chair I turned around and slammed himdirectly into the door, and he collapsed. I wanted to kill that uy that day.

I knew that was the end or me there. So I took my leave and went back

home and narrated the story to my ather. This time he asked me, What

is it now? What is your next step oin to be? So I told him, usic

thats all. This was sometime around 1959 or 1960.

This was very bad news or my parents, to hear that Im quittin my

job to o play music ull time. As a matter o act, I thouht I would be

oin throuh some bi shit with my parents. But that was the rst timein my lie that I saw my ather not objecting to my decision. This was

the rst time he never said, You are crazy! He just asked me, Why do

you want to play music? I said, Well, Im sick o those German uys.

Im tired o them. I just want to quit and I dont want to cause too much

trouble. Let me just go play music. Im not going to play ree o charge. Ill

earn a salary every month, so Ill still be able to pay my expenses. So he

told me, Alriht, i thats what you have decided to do. He never came

out and said it, but maybe he was thinkin about the act that he him-sel was talented and always wanted to play music proessionally, which

he never did. He miht have thouht that, as his rst son, I was oin to

make use o what he never did. y mother was really sad. But he told my

mother, Well let him o, and i its no ood or him, hell come back.

Were here and well rescue him.

Documents

Tony Allen by Tony Allen with Michael Veal