A group of young jazz musicians from the Southwest playing instrumental Afrobeat music in the style of Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Danceable, but at the same time intellectual and thoughtful.

8 MP3 Songs
WORLD: African, JAZZ: World Fusion



Details:
The Afrodelic Stegosaurchestra is an Afrobeat band based out of Tucson, Arizona.

The band was originally formed by drummer Arthur Vint and saxophonist Mike Moynihan in the fall of 2004 after attending an Antibalas show at Solar Culture in Tucson. Afrobeat music inspired them form a band of their own, calling it the "Ujumbe Jazzbeat Orchestra." The name didn't stick for long and they soon renamed "The Afrodelic Stegosaurchestra." Think of "afrodelic" like "funkadelic" as in Parliament Funkadelic and "stegosaurchestra" like a stegosaurous and an orchestra mixed together. The band consists of 12 members including four horns, four percussionists, two guitars, bass, and keyboards.

Afro Steg has played at many festivals and parties both in Arizona and in California. At the 2005 Fullerton Jazz Festival in California the band won 1st place in it's combo division and Mike, Arthur, and Andrew all won solo awards. They've also played at the 4th Avenue Street Fair, the Arizona Jazzathon, Filmstock, and many other jazz festivals throughout the Southwest.

In February of 2006 they won 1st place in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest/Arizona Daily Star "Battle of the Bands." They were voted the best of seven bands that competed on the Rialto Theatre stage on February 10th and got to record a song and music video on the John Lennon Tour Bus as a prize.

The Afrodelic Stegosaurchestra continues to play in and around Tucson, spreading the sound of afrobeat and the legacy of it's creator, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.