AfriCali is more than just a band, it’s “a mixture of Afrobeat truth-consciousness with a Californian street swagger, morphed with hip-hop and drenched in cultural roots”.
The AfriCali genre lends importance to all the instrumentation as much as it does to the vocals. The melodies of each instrument and voice develop in episodes, as opposed to the familiar verse-chorus format. Influences are drawn from soulful rock, blues, heavy rhythms and percussion of 1970s Ethiopian music topped with coastal-psych seasoning.
After working together with the likes of Brian Wilson, Gerry Garcia, Talib Kweli and K’Naan, keyboarder Nico Georis und MC Eyezon founded AfriCali in 2010 as an immaculate realization of the musical melting pot they envisioned.
Dedicated to the “daughters of the sun and the mothers of the brave”, their new TDR release “Taught Of A Culture” is an authentic liberatory statement of this concept, living up to real values and aspirations by pushing aside all limits and boundaries for a new, self-determined culture.
Recommended for fans of The Rolling Stones, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Eugene McDaniels, Serge Gainsbourg, William Onyeabor and Talib Kweli alike.