This Weekend's Top Stop: Michigan Afrobeat

Map It:  U Street-Cardozo 

ANN ARBOR, Mich., may seem like an unlikely birthplace for an Afrobeat combo, but Elliot Bergman, a multi-instrumentalist and leader of the group NOMO, says the town's proximity to its more famous neighbor Detroit gave the band access to the electronica, R&B, funk and jazz sounds that helped inform its striking new disc, "New Tones." Listen as the group adds the influences of John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders and Wayne Shorter to sounds that originated in Nigeria.
» Black Cat, 1811 14th Street, NW, Sun., 9 p.m., $10, 202-667-7960 (U St.-Cardozo)

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This entry was written by Express contributor John Murph
Image courtesy NOMO