The band, formed by Arntzen as he began at NYU in 2009, plays a similar style of Afrobeat music pioneered by Kuti in the ’70s. Over the past couple years, the band had gotten tighter and tighter, stopping on a dime and shifting through passages and songs without a hitch. EMEFE stands for the letters “MFA” which stands for “Music Frees All” which is a motto the band champions, and songs like “Do Your Dance” typify that as quickly the whole audience found themselves uncontrollably dancing.
Up next, “Motherland” the middle track off their latest EP, “Europe” which featured fantastic rotating solos. As the night grew later and later and the crowd sweatier and sweatier, the band played with more and more conviction as the horn stabs were tighter and the bottom end stronger. “Greed” and Birthday man to continue with the funky environment as the band played louder and the audience got more and more into the music. To close out their set, the band played a pair of covers, starting with “Penitentiary Philosophy” by Erykah Badu and closed out with “Alagbon Close ” by Fela Kuti to close out their hour-long set as the clock neared two, and made this a very Good Friday.
-Brian Weidy
Set list:
1. Kalakuta Show intro (Fela Kuti) 2. Oh That’s What It Is 3. Do Your Dance 4. Motherland 5. Title of The Work/Don Porfirio 6. Greed 7. Birthday Man 8. Penitentiary Philosophy (Erykah Badu) 9. Alagbon Close (Fela Kuti)
Get to know EMEFE: