Afrobeat Legacy

-- Egypt 80 is the band Fela Kuti formed in the wake of his ill-fated 1979 bid for the Nigerian presidency. It would be the last ensemble he assembled before his illness and death from AIDS. It's been decades since the band played in the United States, but Egypt 80 has returned under the leadership of Fela's remarkably talented son Seun Kuti. Seun Kuti and Egypt 80, which was just released, offers all the sinuous, time-collapsing syncopation of Fela's music in a tighter package. (Seun's tunes average under 10 minutes, to Fela's 25-30 minutes.) The situation for the average African hasn't gotten much better since Fela's day, and Seun's music has the same righteous anger as his father's. An alternate title for the album could easily be "Don't bring bullshit to Africa," a line from the tune "Don't Give that Shit to Me." Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., 7:00pm. $20.

Singjays

-- In the early 80s, Eek-A-Mouse was widely credited with inventing the singjay reggae vocal style, a rhythmically difficult combination of singing, rapping, and scatting. If you don't know him from his hit "Wa Do Dem" (or his contribution to Damian Marley's single "Khaki Suit"), you might know him as Fat Smitty, from the film New Jack City. Harper's Ferry, 158 Brighton Ave., Allston, 9:30pm. $17/$20.

New Sculpture

-- Roxbury's Berwick Research Institute welcomes a new "Artist in Research," sculptor Jesse Kaminsky, who makes process-based sculpture out of unusual and nontraditional materials. Berwick Research Institute, 14 Palmer St., Dudley Square, Roxbury, 7:30 (through September). Free.

Image of Seun Kuti from his Myspace page.