Newen Afrobeat

About

21 June | Doors 7.30pm | Tickets £20.50 | Plus Support from DJ Naomi Carole | Malt Room Standing

Newen Afrobeat are a pioneering afrobeat band hailing from Chile, whose influences were born in the late 60's in Nigeria, by legends of the genre Fela Kuti and Tony Allen. With 15 years' experience, the band have toured the globe performing their unique afrobeat sound at global music and jazz venues and festivals, including Womad, Womex, Felabration Nigeria and Montreal Jazz Festival, plus touring over 20 countries across Latin America, North America, Africa and Europe.

Their five studio albums include both their original music and celebrations of genre – "Newen Plays Fela" is a real stand-out, where the Chilean band has made outstanding reworkings of some of Fela Kuti's classics such as the popular "Opposite People". Newen has earned the respect of even the very pioneers of Afrobeat, coining collaborations and befriending legends of the genre such as Tony Allen, Femi Kuti, Cheick Tidiane Seck, Seun Kuti, Oghene Kologbo and Dele Sosimi to name a few, who have validated and blessed Newen Afrobeat's proposal for its freshness and unique stamp.

Today, Newen Afrobeat proposes a unique sound, a celebration of cultural integration between Latin America and Africa and an energetic and colourful staging, while reaffirming the social message that makes afrobeat such a powerful musical movement.