Protest music doesn’t need a clap-along marching rhythm. Nor does it need an anthem as its melody. It can simply unfold slowly over a relaxed polyrhythmic groove of brass sections and solos. Just as protest isn’t confined to a single stage, but can develop gradually. The Afro beat star Fela Kuti specialized in such forms of musical protest, and Lekan Animashaun, who played the baritone saxophone in Kuti’s band Afrika 70, was every bit his equal in this regard.
On his 1979 album Low Profile (Not for the Blacks), the music unfolds as described above, though it is not entirely without lyrics. After just under six minutes, a call-and-response vocal part begins in which the words of the album title can be clearly understood, though even these are rhythmically quite complex; Animashaun has no need for chanted slogans. The first side, featuring »Low Profile« and lasting a good eleven minutes, says almost everything there is to say. »Se Rere« on the B-side takes just under twelve minutes, with a brass section playing cascading descending chords. Later on, there’s another call-and-response section. Incidentally, one can’t really take issue with the message of the title. It is: do good.
