Listen up, you fanatics of funk, you fervent adherents to the Groove, you dance machines – we got a special one for you tonight. The Paradise, that ghostly vestige of Boston’s long-forgotten legitimate rock club past, which has been teetering (some would say already fallen) on the border of dedicated commercialism and artistic irrelevance, does, to its credit, still host quality mid-market shows from time to time -and today is one of those times.

ANTIBALAS AFROBEAT ORCHESTRA are a national treasure, one of our country’s most enduring and prominent afrobeat collectives, and they’re coming to Boston tonight as part of their tour to promote their new album off —- entitled Antibalas. For those readers still unaware its signature seductive sound, Afrobeat music revolves around a relentless uptempo groove, grounded by a funky bass line and wide-ranging percussion, enlarged by sustained strains of synth piano, fuzzy, lighthearted guitar hooks, and accented by punches of resonant horns and brass. Antibalas are adept at manipulating the groove, subtley expanding and contracting the polyrhythms with playful exchanges from complimentary instruments in order to conjure a creative tension that compells their audience to dance along, the gyrating bodies just one more instrument in their expansive orchestra. Also on dock for tonight’s show are everyone’s favorite DEBO BAND. Boston’s pride and joy, Debo Band have a very similar approach, though their sound is more grounded on 70’s Ethiopian funk grooves then Fela Kuti’s Nigerian variety favored by Antibalas, but hey! who cares? Its fun to dance to, that’s all that matters. So make sure to get to this before it sells out, and when you get there, always remember: you have hips – don’t forget to shake ’em.