Afro Beat Legend Dies

Pioneering Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, a co-founder of the afrobeat musical genre, died in Paris on Thursday aged 79, his manager says.

Eric Trosset told NPR radio that he had died of a heart attack. AFP said his death was not linked to coronavirus.

Allen was the drummer and musical director of musician Fela Kuti's famous band Africa '70 in the 1960-70s.

Fela, as he was widely known, died in 1997. He once said that "without Tony Allen, there would be no afrobeat".

Afrobeat combines elements of West Africa's fuji music and highlife styles with American funk and jazz.

Allen has also been described by UK musician Brian Eno as "perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived".

Trosset led tributes in a Facebook post saying "your eyes saw what most couldn't see... as you used to say: 'There is no end'".

Beninois singer Angelique Kidjo told the BBC's Newsday programme that she had been hit hard by both Allen's death and the passing of Cameroonian saxophone legend Manu Dibango in March.

"What I want to remember from them is our musical conversation, our laughter, our joy. They are gone, but they are not gone for me," she said.

On Instagram, she said that Allen had "changed the history of African music".

Ghanaian rapper M.anifest tweeted that Allen "put the beat in afrobeat" and thanked him "for a lifetime of being quietly epic".

Flea, the bassist for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, who spent time with Allen in London, called him "one of the greatest drummers to ever walk this earth" and described him as his "hero".

"What a wildman, with a massive, kind and free heart and the deepest one-of-a-kind groove," Flea said on Instagram.One of Fela's sons, musician Seun Kuti, tweeted "rest in power and journey well".

How did he become a drummer?

Allen's career and life story were documented in his 2013 autobiography Tony Allen: Master Drummer of Afrobeat.

Allen, who was born in Lagos in 1940, taught himself how to play drums when he was 18.

He said he learnt his technique by listening closely to American jazz drummers Art Blakey and Max Roach. He then created the distinctive polyphonic rhythms of afrobeat and was said to be able to play four different beats with each of his limbs.

Allen first met Fela in 1964, and they went on to record dozens of albums in Africa '70, including Gentleman and Zombie.

Allen left the band in 1979, after reported rifts with the band leader over royalties. Fela needed four separate drummers to fill the void.

Allen emigrated to London in 1984, and later moved to Paris.

He collaborated with a number of artists during his long music career, and was the drummer in The Good, the Bad & the Queen, with Damon Albarn, Paul Simenon and Simon Tong.

BBC

Akwai ibom To Continue Lockdown Restrictions

The Akwa Ibom State Government has announced its decision to continue enforcing the Quarantine and Restriction of Movement order indefinitely.

Lockdown in the state started on May, 30, 2020 and was expected to end on Thursday, April, 30 making it one month.

However, the Secretary to the State Government and Chairman, COVID-19 Management Committee. Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem, in a 9th COVID-19 update held on Wednesday at Government House, Uyo, said the state government was constrained to continue the enforcement of lockdown regulations at the moment due to the threat of the virus.

Ekuwem said the state government acknowledged the hardship experienced by people as a result of the lockdown noting that the extension was for the wellbeing and safety of the people.

CBN resumes dollar sales for SMEs, school fees

The Central Bank of Nigeria has resumed provision of foreign exchange to all commercial banks for onward sales to parents wishing to pay school fees and Small and Medium Enterprises.

The CBN Director,  Corporate Communications, Mr Isaac Okorafor made this known in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday.

Okorafor explained that the development was due to the gradual easing of the COVID-19 lockdown in the country and across the globe.

IMF Grants $3.4bn Loan to Nigeria

The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has approved Nigeria’s request for financial assistance to the tune of $3.4 billion.

The disbursement is the highest so far given to any African country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Naira Marley Embraces Ramadan

Naira Marley has put a halt to his exuberances on social media to embrace Islam during the holy month of Ramadan.

The 25-year-old father of three stunned his 3.1 million followers on Instagram and 1.1 million followers on Twitter to share quotes from the Quran at the start of Ramadan on Friday, April 24.

Reacting to some of the backlashes he got from some followers on Twitter and Instagram, Naira Marley said, “You will never be able to please all of the people all of the time, so concentrate on pleasing your maker (ALLAH) because that’s what matters.

Naira Marley was born Azeez Fashola in 1994. In less than 14 months, he became Nigeria’s most controversial music artist with at least 3 viral songs and large followership on social media and music scene.

He has proudly promoted sex, alcohol, and drugs in his music but said in different interviews that he gets musical inspiration from Islamic songs and Fuji music.

The singer also revealed to Olisa Adibua in his interview on The Truth that he began a career in music after he made £250, 000 from doing odd jobs on the streets of London.

The Nation

US coronavirus cases surpass 1 million as projections show deaths could rise in coming weeks

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States topped 1 million on Tuesday as researchers say the number of deaths could rise in coming weeks.

There are at least 1,004,908 cases of the virus across the US, according to a tally from health officials by Johns Hopkins University.

The grim milestone comes after seven coronavirus models anticipate a rise in cases that will depend on how much "contact reduction" Americans practice, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The models estimate the numbers of cases and deaths on the state and national levels, and one model from the University of Texas at Austin makes metro-area projections.

Your top coronavirus questions, answered

"State-level forecasts vary widely, reflecting differences in early epidemic phases, timing of interventions and model-specific assumptions," the CDC says.

Models that factor in strong contact reduction suggest deaths will continue to occur, but will "slow substantially over the next four weeks," the CDC said.

CNN news

The Rise and Rise of John Boyega

John Adedayo B. Adegboyega (born 17 March 1992), known professionally as John Boyega, is an English actor known for playing Finn in the Star Wars sequel trilogy films, The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), and The Rise of Skywalker (2019). Boyega rose to prominence in his native United Kingdom for his role as Moses in the 2011 sci-fi comedy film Attack the Block.

Boyega's other credits include historical drama film Detroit (2017), the science fiction film Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018), four episodes of the television series 24: Live Another Day and the drama Imperial Dreams (2014). Boyega received the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2016.

Boyega was born on 17 March 1992 in Peckham, London, England, to British Nigerian parents, Abigail (née Aboderin), who works with the disabled, and Samson Adegboyega, a Pentecostal minister. His first role was a leopard in a play at his primary school. John is of Yoruba ethnic group in Nigeria. 

Boyega was a pupil at Oliver Goldsmith Primary School. While acting in a play there at the age of nine, he was noticed by Teresa Early, the artistic director of Theatre Peckham, a learning theatre for young people who live in south London. After he joined the theatre, he spent his time there outside school hours between the ages of nine and 14. Boyega's father, a preacher, had wanted Boyega to become a preacher too, but was supportive of his son's theatrical interests.

 

In 2003, Boyega started his secondary education at Westminster City School, where he took part in various school productions. Between 2008 and 2010, he attended South Thames College at the college's Wandsworth campus to study for a National Diploma in Performing Arts. His activities at the college included playing the title role in the college's production of Othello. He enrolled at the University of Greenwich to study BA Film Studies & Media Writing, but dropped out to focus on acting.

Boyega trained at the Identity School of Acting in Hackney, and appeared in Six Parties at the National Theatre and Category B at the Tricycle Theatre prior to being offered a role in the 2011 film Attack the Block. In September 2011, HBO announced that Boyega had been cast in the boxing drama pilot Da Brick, loosely based on Mike Tyson's life. Boyega was expected to play Donnie, who is released from a juvenile detention centre on his 18th birthday and begins to examine what it means to be a man. The pilot was written by John Ridley,[16] but was not picked up by HBO.Also in 2011, he acted in the film Junkhearts in which he portrayed Jamal, a drug dealer who finds some guns and tries to sell them.

 

Boyega was chosen by Fionnuala Halligan of Screen International as one of the "UK Stars of Tomorrow 2011" and appeared alongside two other actors on the front cover of that magazine in its July 2011 edition.In March 2012, Boyega was cast in the film adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's book Half of a Yellow Sun. On 29 April 2014, it was confirmed that Boyega had been cast as a lead character in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It was later revealed Boyega would play Finn, a stormtrooper for the First Order, who leaves the military power after witnessing their cruelty in his first combat mission before joining the fight against them. The film was released on 18 December 2015. Both the film and Boyega's performance received acclaim from both audiences and critics.

 

In 2017, Boyega starred in Detroit, Kathryn Bigelow's film about the 1967 Detroit riots. The same year, he reprised his role as Finn in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

 In January 2016, Boyega formed his own production company, Upperroom Entertainment Limited. His company co-produced Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018), the sequel to the 2013 movie Pacific Rim, alongside Legendary Entertainment. Boyega also starred in the lead role of the film, Jake Pentecost.

 In November 2018 it was announced that Boyega would be starring alongside Letitia Wright in a novel adaption of Hold Back the Stars. Boyega has also been cast in Steve McQueen's upcoming mini-series Small Axe.

 In 2018, Boyega subsequently reprised his role as Finn in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, released in 2019. During an interview with Good Morning America, Boyega acknowledged that he had accidentally left his script in a hotel room during filming. The script subsequently surfaced on eBay but was bought by a Lucasfilm employee to prevent it from being leaked.

 

In the 2020 Power list, Boyega was listed in the Top 100 of the most influential people in the UK from African/African-Caribbean decent.

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