12th July 2010

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T.P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou Dahomey at Lynch Theater

The Lynch Theater might not be the best venue for the all powerful Orchestre Poly-Rythmo, but even with the fixed-seating, nobody really had a choice but to get with the groove at last night’s performance.  The band, active for more than forty years, combines elements of Latin and African music with American psychedelic rock, funk, and soul sounds with an ease you just don’t see that often. Last night, they hit each of those areas, and they hit them hard. That’s part of what’s so great about the group; they can not only hang with the best in all those styles, but they can teach a thing or two about how to really own that stuff.

Led by Clement Melome, the last surviving founding member and awesome fat man, the group went through around fifteen songs last night in their 90-minute set, and every one of them crushed. With members old enough to be my friends’ dads, it was great to see the group play so tightly and so masterfully. Particularly impressive were the drummer and the horn section, and, of course, singer Vincent Ahehehinnou’s kickin’ James Brown style. Other highlights included percussionist Celestin Honfo’s hat, which, form where I was sitting, made him look like Mr. Slave, and the fact that guitarist Fifi LePrince’s name is Fifi.

This was their North American debut performance, and I was really expecting every single white guy in the audience to have a ponytail, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that only several of them did. They’re hitting Chicago this Thursday and Quebec on Saturday, before they head over to Europe for shows in France, Spain, Ireland, and England. And after that, they’ve got a new record coming out featuring members of Franz Ferdinand(?). I’m not sure if that’s coming out in the states, but let’s hope some awesome label like Soundway or Analog Africa picks it up and distributes that to wherever I happen to be at that time.

Tagged: legendsgetting into a serious thingorchestre poly-rythmoMusic Is The Weaponi'm still really amped up about how fat that guy was