the Adventure Lifestyle magazine

• • • • bluenote It's rare that you can trace an enti re genre of music to one person, but Afrobeat , an irresistible dance mix of Afr ican rhythms, jazz and fu nk with long extended jams, is indisputably the child of Fela Anikulapo Kuti. A gadfly and outrageously larger-than- life character, Fela used his songs as mischievous and pointed commentary on corrupt politica l institutions, colonialism and Pan-Africanism. But when he died of an AIDS-re lated illness in 1997, his cata logue of over 75 albums was largely unavailable in the West except for some prohibitively expensive Japanese import reissues. Recently there has been a resurgence in the popu larity of DIVE INTO AFROBEAT Where to start sampling this groundswell of musical material: THE BEST BEST OF FELA KUTI (MCA, 2000) This compilation, a two-d isc set which includes many of Fela's strongest songs such as "Shuffering and Shmiling" and "Water No Get Enemy," is a good place to start. Unfortunately, several of the songs are abridged versions, but they sti II retai n the heart of the material and the collection gives a good overview of Fela's oeuvre. If the music moves you, explore the reissued albums that are cou- pled together, two LPs to a single CD; highlights are anything with the Africa 1970 band, especial ly "Confusion/Gentleman" and "Opposite People/Sorrow Tears and Blood," Other avenues to satisfying Afrobeat addiction: ...... jIIIAIi.' .. . \ .. THE SHRINE AFROBEAT- THE FUNKIEST MUSIC EVER MADE (Ocho, 2000) This is a col lection of African tracks put together by three London DJs who've obviously fie ld-tested the material in clubs-it's impossible to listen to sitting down. Strictly speaking, The Shrine uses a broader definition of Afrobeat to include cuts by Nigerian juju wizard King Sunny Ade and Cameroon's saxophone giant Manu Dibango, but when the music is this infectious, who cares what it's called? AFROBEAT-NO GO DIE (Shanachie, 2000) This is a tighter collection of more contemporary pieces by Afrobeat artists like Femi Kuti and Tony Allen, the mighty drum- mer of Fela's Africa 1970 band. The Nigerian artist Lagbaja takes the basic framework of Fela but rep laces the horn sections with traditional Yoruba drums for a hybrid of Afrobeat and fuji (a fusion of several traditional African rhythms into a spare, multipercus- sion-based sound). Perhaps the best cut is from a New York-based group, Antibalas (Spanish for "bulletproof"). Comprised of Latin and African American players, the group has been building a fol- lowing for Afrobeat in the New York area. 72 Afrobeat. I n Europe, an LP set in 1998 attracted the attention of dance club turntabl ists who incorporated Afrobeat into their mixes. Then, in 2000, MCA Records made available some of Fela's greatest work from the 1970s and 1980s. Bearing the standard of contempo- rary Afrobeat, Fela's son, Femi Kuti, had a huge hit in France in 1999 with "Beng, Beng, Beng," a none too subtle reference to sex. Inspired by Fela's example of mixing hard politica l mes- sages with an intoxicating groove, new Afrobeat bands are springing up and two compilation albums of these groups have just been released (see left). Work recently began on a Fela tribute project, tentatively t it led Red, Hot + Riot, which wi ll include remakes of Fela's music by contemporary hip-hop artists. Born to a Yoruba professional fami ly in Abeokuta, Nigeri a, Fela studied jazz in London and founded a group in Nigeria in the mid- 1960s that melded the popular West African dance form highlife with complex jazz arrangements. Then, in 1969, a nine-month stay in Los Angeles exposed Fela to the Black Consciousness movement and the proto-funk of James Brown. He returned to Africa with a tighter groove, bright, staccato call-and-response horn lines and cutting, radica l lyrics chanted in the pidgin English of Nigeria's poor. He dubbed his new melange Afrobeat and its funky, hyp- notic pulse made him the most popular bandleader in West Africa, but songs like "ITT (Internationa l Thief Thief)" and "VIP (Vagabonds in Power)" earned him the enmity of the corrupt Nigerian military dicta- torship. His satiric depiction of mindless soldiers in "Zombie" caused riots in Nigeria and Ghana. His popu larity protected him somewhat from the authorities, but his mocking words provoked attacks: he was hauled into court over 200 times in 20 years and his communal resi- dence, proclaimed by Fela as "the independent Kalakuta Republic," was burned to the ground by furious soldiers. But, to the delight of mil- lions of fans, each detention or attack seemed to strengthen Fela's resolve to thumb his nose and speak his mind. Even under the specter of such extreme government pressure, Fela opened a new compound. Unti l his death, the new compound/n ightclub in Lagos, ca lled "The Shrine," continued to attract thousands of visitors, and to this day Fela continues to be a vital presence in African music. TEXT: CHARLES PUCKETTE

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