Yannis Philippakis and the late Tony Allen team up for an EP

Yannis Philippakis, the leader of the English rock band Foals, and Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, founder of Afrobeat, met to record five tracks before the drummer’s death in 2020. They are featured on an EP, “Lagos Paris London”, under the band name Yannis and the Yaw.

Between Yannis Philippakis, a rock star in love with African rhythms, and Tony Allen, an Afrobeat craftsman, the musical understanding was more than obvious. It is evident throughout five tracks recorded in Paris. The ephemeral group formed in 2017 also includes Vincent Taeger and Vincent Taurelle, friends and close collaborators of Tony Allen.

All these people found themselves in the studio, in the depths of winter. Yannis Philippakis finishing a grueling world tour with Foals and his boundless admiration for Tony Allen in tow. “He just created a rhythm, which itself created a genre, Afrobeat, explains Yannis Philippakis. With Foals, it inspired us from the beginning. He has this mystical presence as a musician, because there are very few who have managed to rearrange something like a drum kit, to create a new language from it.”

Lagos Paris London cultivates the mixture, the differences that feed on the rhythm at the center, it is simply an album of enthusiasts. “As I entered the studio, I was super excited, well aware that I was going to meet one of my musical inspirations, says Yannis Philippakis. At the time I was coming off tour with Foals and it was like two worlds colliding, but we hit it off straight away. I plugged in my guitar and within a minute Tony started playing and the first song was done by lunchtime.”

Tony Allen’s death in April 2020 left them no time to do more, or tour with these exciting songs, but these five tracks from Lagos Paris London leave a testimony and an incredible wealth.