Event

Shango Afrobeat Orchestra! featuring special guest Ismael "Bonfils" Kouyate

Ismael "Bonfils" Kouyate, star of the Broadway and touring production Fela!,comes from a family of artists in Guinea. He performed with Les Percussions de Guinea and Les Ballets Africains, one of Guinea's national ballets. Between 2009 and 2012, he performed in the production of Fela!, both on Broadway and in the world tour. Bonfils maintains a regular teaching schedule in NYC and is sought after to teach at workshops around the country. In addition he performs with his band Ismael Kouyate: Waraba Band

Shango Afrobeat Orchestra pays homage to the legendary Fela Kuti.

Fela Kuti was Nigeria's James Brown, Bob Marley, Dr. King, Sly Stone, Malcolm X, and George Clinton all rolled into one super-funky, hilarious, radical activist, hyper-sexual trickster. He created his very own Afro-Pop sound combining and blending everything he had ever heard, from Yoruba songs and rhythms, to Highlife guitars, to American Jazz and Funk and beyond. And in the African tradition, everybody dances, you can't escape it.

Fela was such an outsize figure it takes four members of Shango (Jonny Peiffer as bandleader, Stu Diaz as vocalist, Matt Langley on tenor saxophone, and Mike Effenberger on keys) to even come close to pulling off what Fela himself was able to do. With horn players, guitars, keyboards, percussion, singers and dancers, Shango is nearly 20 members strong.

$12/advance $15/door