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Legendary Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, who created afrobeat along with his old bandmate Fela Kuti, has died at the age of 79 in Paris.

His manager, Eric Trosset, said the cause of his death is not yet known and has not been linked to the coronavirus.

Tony Allen was the drummer and musical director of Fela Kuti’s band Africa ’70 in the 1960s and 1970s.

During that time the pair created afrobeat, combining West African musical styles such as highlife and fuji music with American imports jazz and funk.

Afrobeat went on to become one of the genres of 20th century African music.<!--more-->

Over his thrilling beat, Fela laid out his revolutionary and pan-African message, which led him to become one of the abiding icons of the struggle for freedom across the continent.

Tony Allen and Fela recorded around 40 albums together in Africa ’70, before parting ways after 26-years of collaboration.

He taught himself to play drums from the age of 18, drawing inspiration from American jazz greats Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker as well as contemporary African music.

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