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ALBINO! is a San Francisco-based, ten piece Afrobeat ensemble that honors the fiery legacy of Nigerian musical icon and political outlaw Fela Kuti. ALBINO!’s high-energy grooves and explosive stage show thick with hypnotic percussion, heavy horns, African dance, wild costumes and elaborate group choreography won the band top honors at the SF Music Awards for “Best World Music” and have firmly established the band as the West Coast’s premier Afrobeat act.
Armed with Fela Kuti’s three musical weapons of choice, front man Michael Bello contributes lead vocals, saxes, and keyboards to ALBINO!’s intricately layered groove. Bello’s deep vocal growl gives potent, stout-hearted resonance to the band’s socially conscious lyrical messages, another key component of the Afrobeat tradition. The four-piece ALBINO! horn section’s boldly-syncopated barrage packs a killer knockout whallop, countered by the ecstatic heights of their individual solo improvisations. Alongside Bello on tenor sax is ALBINO! co-founder Nathan Endsley, a former contributor to the trance/world-beat ensemble Hamsa Lila. Riding the upper reaches of the section’s spectrum is trumpeter Chris Brown. Baritone saxophonist Pat Byers, formerly of the globe trotting pan-African funk ensemble Aphrodesia, fattens up the horn section’s “heavy heavy” bottom end.
Anchoring the ALBINO! rhythm section from behind the drum kit is Jon Arkin. Arkin mastered the funky subtleties of Afrobeat rhythm under the tutelage of Friday Jumbo,Nigerian conga wizard from Fela Kuti’s seminal Africa 70 band, and also a frequent ALBINO! guest performer. Dancer/chekere player Kim Agnew fuses West African,Cuban, and Salsa dance styles into her electrifying style of motion and rhythm. Agnew currently performs with several folklore companies and teaches a multi-cultural dance and music outreach program for inner city youth with the San Francisco Ballet. On bass is Mark Calderon, a native of New York who also performs with New Orleans funk legends Zigaboo Modeliste and Leo Nocentelli of The Meters, and rising South African folk star Vusi Mahalesa. Tenor guitarist Cal Reichenbach is a seasoned teacher and producer who frequently tours with Aphrodesia, and performs in the jazz funk group SOCKET. On rhythm guitar is Jacob Groopman, an accomplished bluegrass and jazz guitarist from the Oberlin Conservatory. Covering congas in ALBINO! is percussionist Matthew Smith, a former member of the late SF afro-jam outfit The Flux. Smith has spent the last 13 years developing his afrocuban technique with percussion masters in Ghana, Mexico, NY and SF.
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