Antibalas

Antibalas is the type of band that has the entire room dancing. They're an Afrobeat Big Band, complete with two saxophones, a trumpet, an amazing trombonist, and African drums. The vocalist, Amayo, blends Swahili and English and has the crowd singing along, never having heard the songs in our lives. (Well, I hadn't at least. And I sang the entire time.)

Keenan bought tickets for Alison as a Christmas gift and she graciously invited her i'll-do-anything friend Sarah. We saw Paul Simon's Under African Skies concert at BAM last winter with Keenan and Jill, and I can truly say that it changed the way I undersand music. It opened my eyes to African sounds and I have been craving another experience like that ever since. Antibalas did that for us, but in a much smaller venue where we could feel those trumpet chords in our chests. It was a stunning evening.

We left with huge smiles, sore thighs (all that dancing, yo), and African rythums in our years and on our toungues. We practically skipped home and you would have thought it was the middle of July, instead of the gloomy end of January. African music does that to you... it feels like summertime.