22 - North

Femi Kuti ui

ore News - Friday, March 31, 2000

las on

Fela’s Afrobeat legacy

From Paae V3

will bring his amazing band to
Richards on Richards Monday
night. Even critics such as
journalist Richard Gehr, who
claim Femi is more pretender
than contender for the
Afrobeat throne, admit that
his live show is awesome.

In Lagos, Femi has contin-
ued his father’s wadition of
live stands at The Shrine.
“The gates open at five.
People start getting there at
six and we go on stage at 7
until 1 or 12,” he “EF
it’s a very hot night we end
about 12. Edo my best never
to go past 12."

If che audience had their
way they would never allow

band to leave the stage.
Femi, 37, like his father did,
lives a very public life as music
superstar and political activist.

He has set up a coalition
with the National Association
of Nigerian Studen
Movement Against Second
Siavery (MASS), vo fight gov-
ernment corruption and
Western exploitation.

The name of the organiza-
tion, MASS, echoes Fela’s
street fighting philosophy by
addressing politics at a gr:
roots populist level. Unlike
Fela however Femi keeps a
level-headed perspective on
the current situation. Fela
tended te get lost in the
moment.

“I’m only going to contin-
ue because I feel ’m sincere in
what L’na doing,” Femi told
the North Shore Mews. “I’m
not going to continue because
I feel I have to — I think it’s
important. I was brought up
to be concerned — I can not
see myself doing anything
else.”

Fela left his wife and chil-
dren in 1971, shorely after
returning from the West (Femi
was eight), to establish what
he called the independent state
of Kalakuta. The Kalakuta
Republic was a large building
in Lagos from which Fela
organized his politico-culcural
assault against the Nigerian
government. Along with his
music this included the publi-
cation of a street newspaper
called ‘the Yap News.

Femi moved to the
Kalakuta compound when he
was 16 and joined his father’s
band Afrika 70. He began to
study African spiritualism
(Egyptology, vodoun) and
developed an awareness of the
historical situation from his
father.

In the late ‘70s Fela’s per-
sonal fortunes became more
surreal after he married 27
women in a ceremony at
Kalakuta. This period of his
life was documented by
reporter Jeremy Marre who
visited the musician as part of
the series Beats of the Heart ior
Britain’s Channel Four.

“Fela’s house was in total
darkness when we arrived and
Tande pushed me in first. I
svipped and fell in the dark
amid bot, heaving bodies and
naked legs. A high-pitched bab-
ble broke out and a light was
turned on above a sofa on which
the fignere of Fela Kuti reclined,
wearing only pink underpants
and smoking a gigantic 3
looked up from the floor.
white man,’ Fela asked, ‘What
are vou doing with my wives?
— Jeremy Marre and Hannah
Charlton, Konkombé, Nigerian
Music, Beats of the Heart,
Channel 4, Pluto Press, 1985.

problems with the
n government
increased to life-threatening
levels during the next decade
and he was imprisoned numer:
ous times on trumped up
charges. He would evertually
in 1997,
: Fela’s unorthodox
: ppossible to sep-
arate the man from the myth.
His combination of African
and Western cultures is one of
the great contributions to con-
temporary pop culture. Femi
Anikulapo- kuti continues his
father’s work burt takes a dif
ferent approach.

As Fela’s personal li
became more bizarre, Femi
rejected the lifestyle and struck
out on his own. “The day [
left Fela, I decided I would
become greater than him”,
Femi told LA deejay Nnamdi
on radio station KPFK-FM.
“But I knew that I had to do
it in my own way. I knew that
if I aied to be like him, I
would be the same as him —
and I wanted to be bigger
than him.”

Femi’s acrimonious break
with his father led to a rift
which lasted for many years.
He began the band Positive
Force and struck out on his
own. He recorded several
albums before the release of
Shoki, Shoki in Europe fast
year. It has received numerous
Affican and European music

ds with the single “Beng,
Bei, Beng” a staple on radio
and club playlists

The album, just reieased in

rth America was recorded
at three studios in Paris. “Ht
was the first time [used those
studios,” Femi told the News.
“I'm using Stadio Zama again
— it’s my producer's studio.
It’s like home. You never for-
get where you come trom —

t you back. ft takes me
to how [ started. ft
me keep any feet on the

ground. My produver knows

that he’s doing. and he does-
mt let me lose track with my
music. The attitude is very
good there and Pin going to
continue with Stadia Zama for
now.”

After Femi plays i
Vancouver he takes his band
ona swing down the west

including a deuble-bill in
Los Angeles with former
Brown sideman Maceo
arker, “We've played with
him before. Maceo’s a great
guy.” Femi's renewing and
expanding his father’s connec-
dons with Western musicians.
The Roots remixed “Blackman
Know Yourself” on Shoki,
Shoki and he continues to look
for ways to build on this rela-
tionship with the West.

Wherever he goes Femi will
remain forever rooted in the
chaos of Lagos. The ald
Shrine closed last January but
a new Shrine opens Oct. 15
and he will be there to play
with Positive Force.

“I think Lagos is Nigeria.
Lagos is like any big city — it
has its own artitude but it
can’t run away trom the fact
that it is Africa as well.”

Mi Femi Kuti's latest album
Shoki, Shoki is out now on
Universal MCA. The label will
also be rereleasing Fela’s classic
LPs over the next year on CD.
The first one, The Best Best of
Fela Kuti, is now available as
an import.

is no April Fool joke.
Stop it at the North Sho:
News, 1139 Lor
and we'll give you tickets
to these hilarious plays
being presented at
Capilano College.
i Quantities are limited, so
first come, first served!

Cm =¢ Capilano..
Cem College’

Putumayo connecis
with global roster

MIRIAM Makeba’s first studio recording in six years is the high
hight of Putuniave World Music's spring releas sched:le.

@ kxtee Miriam Makeba — Homeland (Putumayo World
Music release date: April 25, 2000)

Dan Storper, the founder and CEO of Putumayo clothing and
crafts shops (made famous ina Setafeld episode), began the music
label in 1993 to focus on underexposed world music. Since then
the offshoot has taken off with a growing catalogue of CDs fea-
raring both unknown and legendary artists.

Miriam Makeba’s new CD Homeland will be released on April

in celebration of South Atriea’s Freedom Day on April 27.
Makeba, at one time banished trom South Affica because of her
stand against apartheid, recorded the albuni in her native country
with producer Cedric Swanson,

The ten tracks feature a reworking of “Pata Pata’, the Jerry
Ragavey collaboration that took her to the top of the pop charts
in 1967. Homeland is a must-have for fans of the indestructible
beat of South Aftica.

Si ##¢k* Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca -- Sao Salvador
(Putumayo World Music 2000)

Ricardo Lemvo developed his Congolese rumba (a mix of
soukous and salsa) in Kinshasa. He's now based in California and
regularly tours with his band Makina Loca. Lemvo moves effort-
fessly benveen traditions depending on a song's focus.
fl x kee New World Party (Putumayo World Music 1999)
Purumayo’s compilations are a great way of learning more about
individual artists and cultures. One of their latest, New |
Party, features new artists primarily from wo separate areas
Africa and Brazil. Track 4 has Youssou N°Dour backing hi
younger sister Aby N“Dour on the ra 1". Essential lists .
~— Join Goodman

Winners of Shoki, Shoki

Femi Kuti continues in the Afrobeat tradition of his father
on his new CO Shoki, Shoki, Winner of many African and
European awards the album is now available domestically.
The winners of Shaki, Shoki are:

— Victory Obanye

— David Gregr

— Tenny Bache

—— Paul Luke

— Jimmy Hayes Gko

Femi brings his band Positive Force to Richards on Richards for a gig next Monday,
Aprit 3. Tickets $28, 280-4444.

ee ae “APPLIED
INFORMATION
TECHNOLO tole

Thursday, April 27,

“Wertiesda fay” qv. 7 Bry,