Since jazz is an amorphous term anyway, it's not surprising that so-called jazz festivals are expanding their scope to incorporate related styles like electronica, funk and dub -- and draw in bigger, younger audiences.

The Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Antibalas ensemble, which kick-starts the Toronto Downtown Jazz festival tonight, is a perfect example of that thinking. The musical collective was inspired by legendary Nigerian musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, who more or less created the Afrobeat sound by combining traditional African rhythms with American funk and big-band jazz sounds.

Antibalas -- which means "bulletproof" or "anti-bullets" in Spanish -- was founded in 1997, just months after Fela's death from AIDS-related illness. Its dozen or so members -- playing guitars, horns, organ and all manner of percussion -- take Fela's music as a starting point and make their own Brooklynized Afrobeat, an intoxicating, insanely danceable, intensely political musical brew.

"It's one of the more relevant styles of music in the world," says Antibalas founder and baritone sax player Martin Perna of Afrobeat's timeless appeal. "It's dance music on one hand -- it has that medicinal quality of being able to move your body to it. But it's not just dance music, because there's an element of community, and that's something most of us are missing in our everyday lives. The way the world has evolved, communal experiences are few and far between, and making Afrobeat music is definitely a communal experience.

"And it is protest music," he adds. "Not every lyric has a message of protest, but there are lots of different ways the messages are conveyed in Fela's music -- like double meanings, satire and humour."

Antibalas is able to be more up-front about its worldview -- its most recent album, Who Is This America?, is full of sharp-tongued, socially aware songs like Pay Back Africa, Indictment, Big Man and Sister. A new EP, Government Magic, is available only on at the band's website and concerts, so pick it up at the Phoenix tonight.