World Music Band's debut CD Reflects Founders Message of Unity
By Kwan Booth
Staff Writer, Oakland Post

Victor Sila, founder and frontman for Sila and the AfroFunk Experience, is an extremely nice guy, the kind of person who lights up a room when he walks in. When he talks, the need for unity across racial and economic boundaries comes up repeatedly and he sounds like he genuinely cares about the world around him. This empathy comes across in the music and is undoubtedly one of the reasons his band has risen to the top of the area's world music scene in the last two years. It also doesn't hurt that they deliver one of the funkiest live shows in the Bay.

On Saturday, a full house is expected as the AFE plays San Francisco's Great American Music Hall in support of their debut CD, "Funkiest Man in Africa". Crowds from all over Northern California regularly line up around the block to hear the band that has added a healthy injection on African thump and American jazz and soul into the area's heavily Latin themed world music scene.

Sila was born to be a musician. Growing up in Kikamba, a small village in Kenya, he listened to traditional tribal music alongside the sounds of American soul legends like Sade, Otis Redding and James Brown. It is these influences that shine through on songs like "Cry" and that, once landing in San Francisco in the early 90's, inspired him to try his hand at Neo-Soul. But things didn't work out quite the way he expected.

After playing a debut show where "5 people showed up", the then jerry curled crooner abandoned his Maxwell style leanings and began to develop a sound that better reflects his heritage and political views. The result is an ensemble comprising some of the area's best musicians, including Senegalese drummer Samba Guisse and members of San Francisco jazz mavericks The Broun Fellinis and political hip hop group Spearhead.

Sila's onstage presence-a combination of charisma, enthusiasm and raw sex appeal-along with the band's infectious dance floor centered grooves have earned him the title "the James Brown of Africa", a moniker he accepts with an ever present smile. However, he is quick to reserve the title "Funkiest Man in Africa" for his idol, Nigeria's Fela Kuti. Like Kuti, the AFE is known for it's extended live grooves, often working and reworking a song forever, whipping the crowd into a sweaty frenzy in the process.

Sila also shares his idol's passion for justice and human rights across boundaries, a trait he says he inherited from his grandmother. "She would took care of all the kids in the neighborhood" he recalls.
Sila has been taking care of his community ever since. He regularly donates time to organizations like Habitat for Humanity and GreenPeace and last year dedicated the proceeds from the first annual Afrofunk Music Festival to children suffering in Darfur. His philosophy is simple "Don't say you care, get out there and do something".

And he's doing things through his music. The CD is a testament to the ability of music to break down walls. The good will starts on the first track "Got No Money, Get No Respect" a hyper dance tune that reminds listeners to dance, because money, and all the trivial concerns of life, don't matter. "Forget about yesterday...nobody's perfect...dance like no one's watching..sing like no one's listening...this is Afrofunk!"

If only the whole revolution sounded this good.

Sila and the Afrofunk Experience play Saturday May 27 at the Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell, San Francisco. Doors open at 8, show at 9. For more info go to http://victorsila.com.