Groove Obscura presents: Pitch Black Album Listening

Announcing the November 2026 album for @groove___obscura's pitch black album listening series: Tony Allen and Afrika 70 - Progress The pitch black listening session will take place on Monday, November 16th at the @silenceplease Listening Space in downtown Manhattan. We are joined by a legendary guest, Nigerian designer and artist Lemi Ghariokwu, for a virtual talk prior to the album. Lemi illustrated and designed the cover of the album we are listening to, along with 26 of Fela Kuti’s covers and thousands more. We’ll dig into the Nigerian pop scene in the 70s and 80s and his life in cover art. Doors at 7:00. Album at 8:00 pm. No entry after 8:15. Free. Please RSVP on RA. Walk-ins welcome before 8:15. ~~~~ About the album: Tony Allen spent the seventies as the engine behind Fela Kuti's Afrika 70 and the co-creator of afrobeat. Progress is his second record under his own name, with Fela sitting in on sax and piano. It was recorded at Decca Studios in Lagos and released in 1977 on Fela's Coconut label. There are just two tracks, one per side, and they give Allen's drumming room to stretch out. The gorgeous sleeve was painted by Lemi Ghariokwu, the self-taught Lagos artist behind more than 2,000 album covers. His work for Fela is the most famous, but it runs from Sunny Adé to Miriam Makeba and beyond. Few people have shaped what African music looks like the way he has. Lemi joins us virtually to talk about Progress and his life in cover art. - Arjun Shah ~~~~ Founded by Arjun Shah, Groove Obscura is an experiential platform dedicated to uncovering and contextualizing music from around the world. Groove Obscura takes physical form at the Silence Please Listening Space through communal album listening. Each session explores original pressings of music from around the world, played front to back on a high-fidelity system, preceded by historical and musical context to set the stage for a deep, undisturbed listen. Sessions are often held in pitch black for pure sonic immersion