The musician and drum legend Tony Allen died in Paris. Death suddenly surprised him. He is best known from jazz and funk.
- The musician Tony Allen died in Paris at the age of 79 .
- The Nigerian drummer legend was a co-founder of the Afrobeat .
- The cause of death is still unclear .
Paris - The music world has to cope with a new loss: drummer legend Tony Allen is dead. The Nigerian musician died on Thursday at the age of 79 in Paris, his manager Eric Trosset told the AFP news agency. The cause of death is unclear. However, Corona was not the reason for Allen's surprising death.
"He was completely healthy, that came all of a sudden," said Trosset. He spoke to Allen at noon, two hours later the musician felt uncomfortable and was taken to the Pompidou hospital. He then died there. The musician lived in Courbevoie near Paris. During his lifetime he became the co-founder of the Afrobeat.
Music legend died in Paris: Tony Allen is dead - he developed the Afrobeat
Allen was the drummer and musical director of his compatriot Fela Kuti in the 1960s and 1970s . With him he developed the Afrobeat . This combines genres such as jazz, funk and traditional Nigerian drum rhythms and became one of the most important trends in African music in the 20th century.
At the age of 18, Allen taught himself to play the drums. He found musical inspiration in jazz greats such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker , but also in contemporary African music. With Fela and the Africa 70 group, Allen recorded around 40 music albums. After 26 years of cooperation, they finally separated. Allen's drumming was so intense that Fela needed four drummers to replace Allen.
Drummer Tony Allen is dead: he last played with the former Blur singer
British musician and producer Brian Enoder described him as "perhaps the greatest drummer who ever lived" . Allen recently played drums in the project The Good, The Bad and The Queen by Damon Albarn, the former band leader of Blur .
The film world, however, mourns for this actor: he became known for the film "Slumdog Millionaire". A well-known German serial star also died after a short illness. He posted a video of himself shortly before.
dpa / jbr
