Monkey opera album

Albarn & Hewlett's latest project gets release

23 July 2008 - It's been announced that Gorillaz collaborators Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett will release an album later this summer.

It's an adaptation of the opera Monkey: Journey To The West which premiered in Manchester last year.

The ex-Blur frontman is well known for his interest in different musical styles, especially that of legendary Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen. 

Tony Allen has worked with Damon as the drummer for The Good, The Bad and The Queen and was in town last night (22 July). 

Damon told the BBC that Allen is an inspiration to work with: "He is a very wise man. Full of great stories and thoughts and ideas on everything. So hanging out with him is great, because anything that’s happening in the world, he's got a different sort of attitude to it.

"And a lot of the time it will make you a feel a lot better," he continued, "And that's something in the rhythm he puts together." 

Don't mention 'World Music'

Damon has famously been outspoken about his feelings on the category 'World Music', he doesn't think it should be used at all when describing music that's not from the West: "This shouldn’t be unusual, this shouldn't be strange, it really does mirror our society, (the term world music) immediately suggests that that was another world to our world."

"Anyone who wants to play should first of all do their homework on the drums" - Tony Allen

Everyone wants to play Afrobeat

Tony Allen spoke to the BBC about the impact Afrobeat has had on British music: "Afrobeat made the world listen to African music today. I think it's only beats that breakthrough to the West today.

He had some simple advice for those young bands looking to emulate the Afrobeat sound: "Everyone wants to play Afrobeat, the root of Afrobeat is the drums, so anyone who wants to play should first of all do their homework on the drums"


Ruth Barnes