On Monday October 16th, we’ll be paying tribute to one of the greatest artists of all time and the Godfather of Afrobeat, Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Fela would have been 85 years old on October 15th.
Fela’s legacy as a musician and political activist is a storied one, far too lengthy and complex to get into here. It’s an incredible and often heart-wrenching saga of an artist speaking out and struggling against an authoritarian and violent governmental regime that ended up killing his mother and terrorizing his people. Sadly, as we see nearly every day, it’s a tale that is all-too-common and not just relegated to history.
But Afrobeat, his enduring musical contribution to the world, has permeated generations and genres since its inception in the late 1960s. It started as a combination of funk, jazz, highlife, calypso, Fuji music and Yoruba music, spurred into existence after discovering the Black Power movement in California in 1969. He returned to Lagos, renamed his band Africa 70 and along with Tony Allen, redefined rhythm and funk in a new Pan-African, Pro-Africa direction.
Throughout the course of two decades and multiple iterations of his band (Nigeria 70, Afrika 70, Egypt 80), Fela released more than forty albums. Most of the albums were one lengthy excursion on each side of the record. Fifteen minute vamps bursting with polyrhythms, call-and-response vocals and fiery improvisations of tenor sax and Farfisa organ. Dance music with a message, held down by the ubiquitous, propulsive pulse of the shekere.
As Fela puts it, “Music is supposed to have an effect. If you're playing music and people don't feel something, you're not doing shit. That's what African music is about. When you hear something, you must move. I want to move people to dance, but also to think. Music wants to dictate a better life, against a bad life. When you're listening to something that depicts having a better life, and you're not having a better life, it must have an effect on you.”
We have more Fela albums in our collection that any other single artist, so it was a challenge to pick just four. We selected Ikoyi Blindness (1976), He Miss Road (1975) (a couple lesser known records) along with Everything Scatter (1975) and one of our all time favorites, 1977’s scorching Sorrow, Tears and Blood.
The High Fidelity Listening Session begins at 8p. Join us to celebrate the legend of Fela. Early arrival recommended, low speaking voices required.