Occidental Brothers

Tuesday, Jun 23, 2009 8:00 PM PDT
at Echo
in Los Angeles, CA

Occidental Brothers || Listen || Watch

If you are looking for classic Central and West African dance music or just a raucous good time Chicago?s Occidental Brothers Dance Band International fits the bill. The band specializes in soukous (a style akin to Rumba), Highlife (a genre characterized by jazzy horns and multiple guitars), and Dry Guitar (a distinctively Kenyan style), among other genres. Peter Margasak, a music writer for the Chicago Reader, has declared Occidental Brothers to be the Best World Music Band (and their self-titled release a ?top 10? for 2007). The band was featured in Chicago?s Old Town School of Folk Music?s Afrofolk series and the quintet has performed alongside such acclaimed artists as Oliver Mtukudzi and Andrew Bird. Guitarist Nathaniel Braddock, a teacher of African guitar at Chicago?s Old Town School of Folk Music, leads the group and is joined by Greg Ward on alto saxophone, Kofi Cromwell on trumpet and vocals, Daniel ?Rambo? Asamoah on traps and hand drums, Josh Ramos on upright bass, and-occasionally-congero Jean LeRoy. As band members explain, Occidental Brothers began by covering the songs of ?Congolese greats? Mwenda Jean Bosco, Franco, and Bantous de la Capitale. Now, however, the group is ?writing original songs that incorporate their mastery of the old style with the singing of Ghanaian Kofi Cromwell.? Their monthly gigs at Chicago?s Charleston have become legendary dance parties. - KEXP