Bantu - Everybody Get Agenda (Soledad Productions, 2020)
Bantu and their songs on the new album “Everybody Get Agenda” are inspired by the revolutionary spirit of Fela Kuti. The new recordings are dominated by wild rhythms and politics in their lyrics.
The sound of Bantu is the sound of Lagos. The city, at once a source of inspiration and some exasperation, is not easily classified. The band, eclectic and varied, has both activist and fun inclinations. Its listeners and fans, as seen at the Afropolitan Vibes concert, comprises various nationalities. As the band itself was birthed away from Nigeria and then consolidated on the motherland, this blend of nationalities and sound seems fitting.
Two years after the success of Bantu´s Agberos International album, we can now welcome the newest effort from the Bantu Crew, “Everybody Get Agenda”.
Recorded at Rigmaroll & Blackstar Studio in Lagos, produced by Grammy Award winning producer & engineer Aman Junaid (George Clinton, TLC), mixed by Manu Schlindwein in Cologne, German (Patrice, Mariama, Angelique Kidjo), and mastered by Tony Dawsey (Jay Z, GangStarr, Nine Inch Nails, Whitney Huston).
“Everybody Get Agenda” which also features Seun Kuti is the most extensive and international recording effort yet undertaken by the band. The long player showcases the 13-piece ensemble at it’s best as they once again chart new musical territories.
Their latest album is another gallant melange of socio-political activism.
While other artists also highlight the problems like gloss of mold, Bantu Crew discusses the key problems. On “Animal Carnival,” they discuss how a snake supposedly ‘swallowed’ N36 million.
On the militant “Disrupt The Programme,” the discuss the murder in Ekiti State while providing solutions, “By any means necessary.” On ‘Me, Myself and I,’ they discussed the interrelation between the rot in Nigerian leadership and its link to the blase, perpetually unbothered and individualistic tendency of the average Nigerian.
NMR (photo: press Bantu)
