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Nubiyan Twist are a Leeds-conceived, London-based, genre-fluid musical collective orchestrated by guitarist/producer Tom Excell. Their expansive, eclectic music is a seamless meld of soul, funk, jazz, hip-hop, reggae, Indian classical music, gnawa, soukous, and electronic dance music. Ranging from ten to twelve members, the band includes three primary vocalists in Nubiya Brandon, saxophonist Nick Richards, and percussionist Pilo Adami, as well as a four-piece horn section, dubbed live electronics, and a large rhythm section that all serve to create powerful live performances in intimate jazz clubs, and on large dancefloors and festival stages. Their 2019 sophomore full-length Jungle Run on Strut featured guest spots by Afrobeat drum legend Tony Allen and Ethiopian jazzman Mulatu Astatke. After a handful of singles in 2020 and early 2021, including "Tittle Tattle" (feat. Cherise), "Buckle Up" (feat. Soweto Kinch), and "If I Know" (feat. K.O.G.), they issued the long-player Freedom Fables in March 2021. Their third album, Find Your Flame, appeared in 2024.

The band was formed in 2011 at the Leeds College of Music by a group of players around Excell. They spent four years woodshedding, shifting personnel, and playing whatever gigs were available just as the 21st century cross-hybrid music scene was coming into view. Their 2015 self-titled full-length debut on Wormfood received strong support from the jazz and hip-hop press, and earned them support gigs with De La Soul, Hot 8 Brass Band, Quantic, and the Robert Glasper Experiment. The recording also inspired an album of remixes. A year later they issued the five-track Siren Song EP, and in 2017 the Dance Inna London/All the Pieces EP. The A-side featured a guest vocal by Supercat with remixes by Dem Juju Poets and Renegades of Jazz, while the flipside included a pair by Wonky Logic and Voyeur. All the while, Nubiyan Twist were hard at work honing their live chops at home and on tour. Their reputation spread across the fertile London and European scene, and David Byrne selected them for 2017's South Bank Meltdown Festival, which Byrne curated. In late 2018, the band signed to Strut and issued their sophomore full-length, Jungle Run, in February; it established their reputation in Asia and the Americas, as well as in Europe. Gilles Peterson's Worldwide FM played and promoted the album and the band played a three-hour live in-studio session hosted by Strut label boss Quinton Scott. That live session was also chosen as album of the week by DJ Morning Mari. It received abundant airplay on French, Belgian, German, and Swiss radio, and placed respectably on global streaming charts.

In 2020, the collective retreated to the studio. They issued a handful of singles including "24-7" (feat. Ego Ella May), "Tittle Tattle," "Flow" (feat. Cherise), and "Buckle Up" (feat. rapper and saxophonist Soweto Kinch). All were included on third album Freedom Fables produced by Excell. Throughout the nine-song set the band drew inspiration from jazz, hip-hop, Afrobeat, and U.K. soul; they included vocalists throughout. Also featured on the roster were Ghanian musician Pat Thomas and pianist/songwriter Ria Moran. Titled Freedom Fables, the album was issued in March of 2021.

Following European tours, the group re-entered the studio in 2022 to cut and release the charting single "Through the Noise." They spent much of the next year playing at home and in Europe. The band entered the studio again in late 2023 with a host of first-call collaborators that included Nile Rodgers playing guitar on "Lights Out," Afrobeat star Seun Kuti on saxophone and vocals on the pulsing "Mother Carry Me," Ria Moran singing on "All the Same," and Malian vocalist Mamani Keïta appearing on closer "Slow Breath." The full-length Find Your Flame was released in May 2024. ~ Thom Jurek

Seun Kuti is the youngest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. He has spent most of his life preserving and extending his father's political and musical legacy as the leader of Egypt 80.

Kuti was born in early 1983. He showed interest in his father's music at the age of five, and at nine began opening Fela's shows, singing a select group of songs with Egypt 80 before his dad took the stage. As a developing saxophonist and percussionist, he entered the formal ranks of the band before he was 12. Fela passed in 1997, and Seun, in fulfillment of his father's wishes, assumed the mantle as head of Egypt 80; he has run it ever since.

During his teens, Kuti divided his time between the band and school, participating in African Football. From the time he was 18, he pursued music full-time. His shows were always a mix of his father's tunes and his own. Although the elder Kuti never performed his recorded work on-stage, Seun felt it important that these compositions get a live hearing and added them to his own set.

Along the way, he began adding his own twist to the music, digging deep into various African traditions to reflect the continent's struggles and cultures. His debut recording, Seun Kuti & Fela's Egypt 80, was initially issued by WM Recordings in 2008, and later picked up for distribution by Mr. Bongo. While many outside Africa criticized it for using the Egypt 80 name, critics embraced its musical drive and improvisational fervor. Mr. Bongo also released his Many Things set later that year, which drew more praise than criticism.

Seun toured globally and played for enthusiastically receptive audiences in Detroit, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Paris, London, Tokyo, and especially Lagos. In 2011, he cut From Africa with Fury: Rise for Knitting Factory Records. It was co-produced with Brian Eno and John Reynolds. The set proved to be his breakthrough and landed on both the Billboard and digital International Charts. Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 -- the band still retained three-quarters of the group that played, protested, and were arrested with his father -- toured the globe relentlessly, often playing multi-hour shows that were as heavy on group improvisation as they were on composition. The music never deviated from the overtly political. The younger Kuti continued to state that "Fela will always be number one," despite the fact that he was shifting and transforming Afrobeat with his own growing, evolving musical signature.

In 2014, the group issued A Long Way to the Beginning. The set was a collaborative venture between the Knitting Factory and Kalakuta Sunrise labels. Produced by Robert Glasper, the set featured not only Egypt 80, but guest appearances from its producer, rappers M1 and Blitz the Ambassador, and German/Nigerian singer Nneka. After touring for more than a year, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 took a long break (during which Kuti became a father) and began rehearsing again at Kalakuta, the rebuilt communal compound Fela built for his family and musicians. Seun envisioned a more expansive recording than anything he'd done in the past and again reached out to Glasper, this time as co-producer, for the purpose of cutting a diverse but anthemic political record, documenting struggles both emergent and historic. Glasper also played on the sessions. The pair enlisted guitarist Carlos Santana to contribute to the title track single and video "Black Times," as well as vocalist Nai Palm of future soul quartet Hiatus Kaiyote and rapper and activist Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def), who appeared elsewhere on the album. Black Times was issued by Strut in March of 2018. ~ Thom Jurek