Bantu (band)
Bantu (stylised in all caps) is a 13-piece band based in Lagos, Nigeria. Their music is a fusion of Afrofunk, Afrobeat, highlife and Yoruba music. The group features multi-instrumentalists and singers who perform as a collective. History Nigerian-German brothers Ade Bantu and Abiodun, Sierra Leonean-German-singer Patrice and Nigerian singer Amaechi Okerenkwo founded Bantu in 1996 in Cologne, Germany. Bantu is an acronym for "Brotherhood Alliance Navigating Towards Unity" and according to band member Ade Bantu the name was also chosen to honour South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Bantu Biko. The band's first recording was "No Vernacular (Humber Version)" which they released on the Cologne Carnival compilation Humba 2-Fastlovend Roots in 1996. Their debut album Fufu was released in 2000 and it became an instant success in Nigeria earning them two radio hit singles: "Nzogbu" (featuring Trinidadian Rapso artist Brother Resistance) and "Fire Inna Dancehall". After the departure of Amaechi and Patrice from the band a second self-titled album Bantu featuring Jamaican drummer Sly Dunbar, Peter Tosh guitarist Earl "Chinna" Smith, Positive Black Soul and Pee Froiss from Senegal was released in 2004 with Ade Bantu & Abiodun handling most of the vocal duties. In 2005 Bantu was awarded the Kora