Afrobeat pioneer Tony Allen dies aged 79

Pioneering Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, a co-founder of the afrobeat musical genre, died in Paris on Thursday aged 79 of a heart attack, NPR reports. Allen was the drummer and musical director of musician Fela Kuti's famous band Africa '70 in the 1960-70s. Kuti once said that "without Tony Allen, there would be no afrobeat". Allen later collaborated with a number of artists, and was the drummer in The Good, the Bad & the Queen, with Damon Albarn, Paul Simenon and Simon Tong.