AMAYO

Rest In Power, Ascend in Peace in the Middle East. ☮️🌍
To all my friends going through these trying and tragic times,
I wish you the resilient Strength of the Ascended Lion.
Who rises to a
A state of Letting Go
A state of breaking out
A state of overcoming
A state of jubilation
A state of Solutions
And heightened awareness
Ready for any challenges!
May all our Lost loved ones,
Ascend in Peace! 🕊️🤍

Photo by Tequila Graphics, Inc.

Windy City O! 💨❤️ World Music Festival Chicago



📷 Tequila Graphics, Inc.

Thanks Chicago Reader's Guide for your write-up! We hit at 6pm on SATURDAY, Sept. 30th at the Global Peace Picnic! https://chicagoreader.com/music/the-readers-guide-to-world-music-festival-chicago-2023/?fbclid=IwAR3H-XXhRC1KprPOEv2SuWt1W4UwqAIh3YhFFLrAvAPXLCg4YVV-MxmEzZc

The Reader’s guide to World Music Festival Chicago 2023 - Chicago Reader With 11 free concerts in ten days, World Music Festival Chicago gives us dozens of chances to participate firsthand in the way music builds kinship across borders.

Thanks for the interview WBEZ! Can't wait for Saturday's Show for World Music Festival Chicago! Listen to the interview at the link in the comments.

Excited to be headlining the World Music Festival Chicago on Saturday, September 30th at the Global Peace Picnic, Global Stage. FREE. !! Tell your friends! Original . World Music Festival Chicago

LOS ANGELES!!! I’ll se you on July 21st at Zebulon Café Concert☀️🎶 with my full band. Excited to be back with my musical family. I’ll be sharing a preview of my upcoming album. Get your tix early as there’s limited capacity. 🎫

Thanks for an awesome show last night Hawks and Reed Performing Arts Center. TONIGHT we’re in Woodstock, NY Colony Woodstock NY🔥🔥🔥 Our last show of this tour! New York, come through! 🎶🕺🏿🙌🏿✨
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Love this crew!! TONIGHT Fri. 5/12 Greenfield, Mass
Sat. 5/13 in Woodstock, NY


Featuring on drums
on bass
on percussion
on guitar
on chekere

on trumpet
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Massachusetts TONIGHT! Venue went indoors!!! Please note the change. Doors at 7pm. We go on at 9:30pm!
See you there!



now at
Greenfield, Mass 🎶

Back in the Big Apple! 🍎 Playing a secret show tomorrow night. DM me if you want the rsvp info. Starts at 8pm Saturday night in Manhattan.

Had a great listening session with Colin Leonard at SING Mastering yesterday in Atlanta. Now on my way to New York! Excited for what’s to come! 🔥🎶🎧🎙️

EAST COAST next weekend! “If you don’t go, you never know!”
May 11, Portland, ME -
May 12, Northamptom, MA -
May 13, Woodstock, NY -
🎫🎫🎫🎫🎫 in the comments🔥






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See you on the road! 🔥🔥🔥

Amayo Announces Spring Tour, City Winery and Colony Woodstock Shows Amayo, former frontman of Antibalas for 23 years, will embark on a spring tour and perform seven shows across the country in April, with two shows in New York, at City Winery on May 8 and Colony Woodstock on May 13. Amayo is credited with bringing Afrobeat to a global audience, leading it to become....

Announcing my Spring America Tour! 👊🏿🌺❤️
See you on the road!🔥

April 13, Oakland, CA -
April 16, Santa Cruz, CA -
May 7, Philadelphia, PA -
May 8, New York, NY -
May 11, Portland, ME -
May 12, Northamptom, MA -
May 13, Woodstock, NY -
Link for 🎫 in my bio. 🙌🏿
Tell me which show you’re coming to in the comments and invite a friend.

Excited to be back in NYC performing with friends and former Antibalas members at City Winery NYC in their intimate Loft space with special limited edition wine! 🍷May 8th! Tix just went on sale at the link in my profile. This one’s going to be 🔥🔥🔥
As my name “Amayo” means: If you don’t go, you never know!
See you there! ❤️👊🏿🌺🙏🏿

Excited to be headlining Collider!FEST in Western MASS on May 12th!

THE BAY AREA! I'll see you soon! Where are my Oakland people at?!

✨ Just announced ✨
AMAYO 👑 formerly of Antibalas is coming to Oakland on April 13th!

Tickets on sale THU 2/23 at 10am
🎟 https://bit.ly/3YWYq4f

I grew up down the street in Ikeja and it was a full circle moment performing with my band at the 🇳🇬 It meant so much to me to perform for the Nigerian youth and my local area boys. ⚽️ Rooting for all of the African players as I watch the France VS. Morocco World Cup game. ❤️
I came to America when I was 17 on a soccer scholarship and went to 🍎 I moved to NYC, opened up my Afrospot temple where I taught Kung Fu, put on fashion shows and where two guys came in and asked me to join a band. We were Antibalas. The rest is history. As my name means: If you don’t go, you never know!



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Gratitude to Kaseem Bature, woodblock player for Fela Kuti back in the days, who anointed me with this Fela necklace before hitting the stage at the in Lagos, Nigeria with my band for the first time. More pictures and videos to come!
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Excited to be back performing again in at BAM this Saturday, November 19th. We hit at 9:30pm sharp. It’s a free concert! Here are more shots of our epic trip performing at as part of the festivities last month. More to come… there’s so much to share!
means:

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BROOKLYN!!! I'll see you next weekend!!! Exciting FREE Show at BAM Cafe LIVE 11/19 featuring:

Miles Francis: Drums
Binky Griptite: Bass
Nikhil Yeranadekar: Guitar
Giancarlo Luiggi: Shekere
Jordan McLean: Trumpet
Smoota: Trombone
Eli Edelman: Congas

BAM

There’s an ancient myth that the Chinese Lion (Fu dog) gets tossed out of heaven for being mischievous and lands down on earth to learn earthly lessons. I believe he landed in AFRICA! 😉🌍 And here we are at reconnecting his head back to his body just like we reconnected to the motherland to perform where the roots of Afrobeat lie as a part of . 🙏🏿🇳🇬🎤❤️ The Lion represents the spirit of goodwill, good fortune, and abundance. Traditionally only Kung Fu practitioners learn how to do this Chinese Egungun (masquerade dance.) 🦁🕺🏿 where meets 🇨🇳🇳🇬
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Backstage with the wearing denim tech vests designed by me. My outfit is also an Amayo design featuring repurposed fabric from my late mother. All of my show outfits include her fabric so I can embody her spirit. If you don’t know, I started in fashion before doing music. I had my own line and would host fashion shows at my Afrospot in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It was also my Kung Fu dojo and eventually was where two guys came in and asked me to join their band. The rest is history… like my name means, 🎤Then we built a music studio in the basement which became Daptone Records before the studio was disassembled and reassembled as the House of Soul in Bushwick where Miss Sharon Jones recorded. These shows in Nigeria, and this night at Freedom Park Lagos brought me home and made these memories come flashing back. Love the new designers who are being featured at Lagos Fashion Week this week! 🙏🏿❤️
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Deep Gratitude 🙏🏿 Guardian Nigeria 🇳🇬
・・・
After 20+ years as the Lead singer of the American band, Antibalas, Duke Amayo () is going solo with his new band & upcoming album, “The Lion Awakes.” The veteran composer and martial arts instructor is coursing new paths in his musical journey, after over 2000 stage performances and six full-length studio albums with Antibalas.⠀
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Grab a copy of The Guardian today for our Guardian Music special, as the Grammy-nominated composer and Duke of Afrobeat peel back layers of stories revolving around his dramatic entry into music, his craze for synergizing kung fu with Afrobeat, his new journey as a solo artiste, and his upcoming projects.⠀
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Guardian Music is a weekly publication insert available in The Guardian newspaper on Saturdays. ⁣⠀
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Gratitude for our 2nd show in Nigeria for our 1st official performance Freedom Park Lagos. These are shots from soundcheck and getting ready to light up the stage! 🌟🇳🇬🌌🎶In America, freedom & democracy are on the line. Let’s get ready to hit the polls early tomorrow morning! Deep gratitude to all of my musician friends on this journey. 🙏🏿❤️👊🏿🌺

More pics from our first show in Lagos, Nigeria at Otis' Place Thanks to my friends and family for coming out. 🇳🇬❤️🙏🏿




🇳🇬👊🏿🌺

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I just returned from Lagos, Nigeria and I’m feeling so much gratitude for an amazing trip with my spiritual brothers playing 3 shows as a part of Felabration 2022. Thank you to Otis' Place for hosting our first performance in Africa. I’ll be posting lots more pics and videos over the next few weeks. Thank you for these captures. 🙏🏿❤️



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Everybody Say Yooooooo....!!!
Thanks so much for being a part of my musical journey.

If you're here, you've probably been a fan of Antibalas. So first and foremost, thank you.

For the past 23 years, I have had the great pleasure of performing with Antibalas around the world. Over that time we have rotated through 3 generations of musicians, received a Grammy nomination and collected countless memories both with our fans and musicians alike.

I am eternally grateful for everything! We’ve grown up together, and it’s now time for me to pursue other interests.

After the success of my Grammy Nominated “Fu Chronicles” album, the down time with Covid, the birth of my son, and a move across the country, circumstances have provided me with the opportunity to leave Antibalas on a high creative and artistic note, with deep unconditional love for you, our fans, and all of the musicians who have played with me over the years.

As I say, “Gratitude living everyday.” It’s time for me to embark on a solo career, one dedicated to my rich Nigerian Afrobeat roots.

As my name means, “If you don’t go, you never know.”

I can't wait to share my new adventure with you. We already have a bunch of shows in the works featuring some of the phenomenal musicians you've seen play with me over the years.

I'll be posting upcoming tour dates soon!

I invite you to follow me on IG to follow my creative artistic and musical journey.

Blessings and Deep Unconditional Love!
AMAYO