Free Download - Afrobeat and punk rock are a match made in heaven. Osekre & the Lucky Bastards “Why Are You Here?” #SoundCheck

We all know Fela was a punk in spirit, but what if he actually made punk rock? Osekre and the Lucky Bastards takes Afrobeat, indie, punk, ska, and rockabilly, throws them in a blender and the glorious mess that comes out is their latest track “Why Are You Here?”.

Singer Osekre sounds a bit like Ghana's answer to Eugene Hutz of Gogol Bordello. A open-throated rasp, he presides over a similarly multi-cultural melange of sounds. An Afrobeat verse gives way to a punk rock shout-along chorus before bursting into ska. The pieces fit better than they should, and guitarist Raja Kasis and drummer Dan Burdman move between sounds so effortlessly you wonder why no-one has really tried this before. We can only hope this is the start of a movement of Afrobeat / punk rock bands. More please.

- Words by Nathan Leigh

Photo credit: Julia Pearl Robbins