Afro-Celt Sound System bring global beats to the O2 Academy Oxford

AFRO-Celt Sound System stands at the very crossroads of music. This collective of European and African musicians perch at the confluence of diverse musical currents and come up with something which is entirely their own.

It’s a global sound which merges dance music with African, European roots and Asian influences to result in a powerfully groundbreaking sound which exhilarates with its sheer energy. And it works – with the band shifting one and a half million albums and pocketing two Grammy nominations.

Despite changes in the line-up, and external collaborations, they are now celebrating their 20th anniversary, and have marked it with a new album, The Source – featuring latest single Honey Bee, featuring the sultry, soulful Armagh-born vocalist and flautist Rioghnach Connolly.

The album is getting a thorough airing on their current live tour which calls into Oxford on Saturday.

I asked founder member Simon Emmerson, how it feels to have the show back on the road?

“Incredible important, emotional, vibrant and life affirming – or am I now sounding like a vitamin supplement advert?” he laughs.

“Believe it or not this is our first ever ACSS national UK tour.”

To people who don’t know the band, how would he describe it?

“We are a band that lives and embraces multiculturalism through our music,” he tells me. “It’s an ongoing dialogue between the past and present, the traditional and the modern, brought together by a chance meeting between the ancient music of the British Isles and Ireland, and West Africa.

“But, most importantly, it’s incredible fun and that’s largely what the audience pick up.”

It’s an engaging and deeply groove-laden sound. What, I ask, is the secret? “The secret is not to let the machine dictate the spirit,” he says.

“Let the music lead and the technology will follow. It’s about working with and respecting the indigenous rhythms and building the edifice on firm foundations. The answer lies in the soil.”

He admits it probably shouldn’t work. “I have no idea how it works but it does,” he says. “Once we all find out we will probably stop!

“It’s a genuine collaboration so, in that sense, the centre of creativity is constantly shifting.

“Everyone has their own method but not everyone is even aware there is a method – which is exactly how it should be.

“It’s not a cerebral thing; it’s from the heart but the heart is a great big out of body displaced collective one that no one can claim is exclusively their own.”

So how did he acquire an interest in such disparate genres?

“It started back in the early 80’s when I was working in Mole Jazz, a jazz specialist vinyl shop in London, and I stumbled across African, Cuban and Latin Amercian music,” he says.

“This fed into the indie-post-punk band Weekend I was in and progressed through Working Week into the early Acid Jazz productions I did, and the albums I made with Manu Dinago and Baaba Maal. There is a continuum with all this.”

The current line-up consist of Simon; Guinean vocalist, kora and balafon virtuoso N’Faly Kouyate; and charismatic dhol master Johnny Kalsi; along with percussionist Robbie Harris and fiddle-player Eòghann MacEanruig.

Joining them are Ged Lynch on drums, Simon ‘Palmskin’ Richmond on keyboards and electronica, and Val Etienne on backing vocals, with the gritty, witty rhymes of Gaelic rapper, musician and language activist Griogair.

They have also been touring with Guinean female quintet Les Griottes and the aforementioned Rioghnach Connolly.

Notably absent are other founder members James McNally and Martin Russell.

“There are 17 ACSS musicians on the album, past, present and future,” he says.

“But Martin and James chose not to join us.”

Still, he insists, there has been no split – and favourites from the band’s past will get an airing at the O2 Academy Oxford.

“About half the set is from the back catalogue,” he says. “And the audience’s experience is the same as the band’s.

“The connection is incredible.

“We are in a great space as a band and know the audience will pick up on this and be get carried along with the magic as it happens on stage.”

It’s fair to say the band’s sound goes far beyond African music – with haunting Asian melodies and instrumentation a massive part of the production. Shouldn’t it, instead, be called Afro-Asian Celt Sound System?

“Probably yes!” says Simon. “I think the band’s name is more reflective of the genre and style of music we have created these days, than the actually specific origins of the band members’ ancestry.

“Johnny’s parents were Kenyan Asians so there is an African connection there.”

He says the entire collective were keen to get out and play the new material live.

“The fans’ response has been amazing –and we are looking forward to it hugely,” he says.

“See you there!”

Afro-Celt Sound System play the O2 Academy Oxford on Saturday, before moving on to London’s Barbican on Sunday. Tickets from ticketweb.co.uk.

The band’s album The Source is out now