Tony Allen, famous Nigerian drummer, died at 79

Tony Allen, the legendary drummer and great pioneer of Afrobeat, passed away Thursday, April 30, 2020, in Paris, in his 79th year after discomfort. The information about his death was confirmed by his manager Eric Trosset. Tony Allen and his compatriot Fela Kutti are the creators of Afrobeat.

The Famous Nigerian drummer Tony Allen died yesterday, Thursday, April 30, of a malaise. If the exact cause of his death is not yet known, his manager and friend for 20 years, Eric Trosset, ensures that he was not carried away by the Coronavirus.

“He was in great shape, and it was quite sudden. I spoke to him at 1 p.m., then two hours later, he was sick and was transported to Pompidou hospital, where he died,” said the manager.

This information plunges the entire musical universe and particularly that of Nigeria, into mourning.

He was inspired by the claims and struggles of black Americans, such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and The Black Panther Party. Tony Allen and his compatriot and friend Fela Kuti had created in the 1960s Afrobeat, which is a cocktail of Jazz, African-American music, from West Africa, from Funk and all spiced with traditional music from Nigeria, especially from the Yoruba ethnic group.

The very famous Fela Kuti accompanied this very dancing rhythm of pan-African and revolutionary texts to defend freedom in Africa.

The deceased was long the drummer of Fela Kuti, with whom he recorded forty albums before the two men separated after 20 years of collaboration.

After his departure, it took four drummers to fill the void he had left, and his talent was immeasurable. For British artist Brian Eno, Tony Allen is “the best drummer who ever lived”.