"Fela was sweet; perhaps not an adjective that would normally be used to describe this tornado of a man, but Fela was sweet to me. The sweetness that I perceived in him emanated from his love for humanity; particularly for those who had drawn life's short straw. Hundreds of people depended upon Fela for a living. Many more than he needed to run his Lagos club, The Shrine, or to play in his band.
I saw him as a social engineer, concerned with issues of injustice, corruption, the abuses of power. He was ready to lay his life on the line in defense of such causes, which he did on countless occasions. For his trouble he was beaten with rifle butts, endlessly harassed, imprisoned, vilified by the authorities, despised by bourgeois society (whose sons and daughters were captivated by him) His house was once burned to the ground by a thousand soldiers after they had raped and beaten his followers, thrown his mother and brother from a window, both of whom suffered fractures (his mother was ultimately to die from her injuries) Each time they were to beat him, though, he always bounced back with a vengeance, stronger than ever. It is my view that the only thing that kept him alive and the ultimate source of his strength, was the love the people had for him.
And his music - the rumble of thunder and the crack of lightning - layer upon layer of sublimely interwoven rhythm and melody, tangled in a delicious knot of divine inspiration. Deliberate conspiracies of hot brass woven around the intricately hypnotic consistency of bass and guitar lines, all driven by the dual forces of lavish percussion and Fela's own passion for the precision of his musical vision. Heaven help any musician who might stray from his given task. Fury would descend upon him until, in mortal terror, he would struggle his way back into the groove.
The icing on the cake of a Fela performance were his singers and dancers; fabulous glittering unreal creatures from another world who would exude waves of sensuality and downright sexiness that you could cut with a knife. All in all, thirty something people on stage, each playing their part in what Fela called "the underground spiritual game". "
-Riki Stein (manager and friend)
I discovered last night that UT has an Afro-pop ensemble. From Miriam Makeba to Oga fela they played it all. The lead singer (texan) even sings in Swahili, Afrikans and Pidgin. They were generous enough to allow me to accompany them on the cowbells. I hope to join their band as their djembe player this spring. Either that or UT's Afrobrazilian orchestra. For those of you wondering, Fela Anikulapo Kuti was the father of Afrobeat and a legendary figure in Africa, uniting people through his music and his own political party "Movement of the People." Having grown up in Lagos I was fortunate to have witnessed Femi Kuti (his son) perform live. My Nigerian visa should arrive on Monday. Nao posso esperar para voltar para casa.
# posted by Surya Swamy : 1:05 PM
