The Unofficial Website for Fela Kuti and Afrobeat Music

Hot news:         

  • CD of the month is the reissue of Danger by The Lijadu Sisters, who were cousins of Fela Kuti’s.
    Want your CD reviewed? Send me a message.
     
  • 15 years after his death Fela Kuti finally hits the charts! Well, he’s number 22 in TimeOut’s 100 Songs that Changed History with his 1977 release “Zombie”.  Everybody say “yeah yeah”!
    100 Songs That Changed History
     
  • See Africa Differently recently interviewed the cast of the incredible Fela! Musical, which will be touring the US starting on 13 September. Make sure to watch this inspirational video:

    rise1
  • It’s finally here! Seun Kuti’s long-awaited second album. Rise: From Africa with Fury is a total beast of an album and the cover was designed by Lemi Ghariokwu. Get your copy from  ITunes,
    Play.com (free shipping) or Amazon.co.uk. The North American release is scheduled for 21 June.
    Here’s the tracklist:

    • 1. African Soldiers
    2. You can Run
    3. Mr Big Thief
    4. Rise
    5. Slave Masters
    6. For Them Eye
    7. The Good Leaf
     

  • CD of the month is “Go Anywhere Do Anything” by The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra from Australia. Be sure to check out my full review of the album!
     
  • Zozo Afrobeat is spreading the Afrobeat legacy in the New York area of the US. Lead by Kaleta, a musician who toured with both Fela Kuti and King Sunny Adé, this is Afrobeat from a multicultural band with a strong traditional African element. I urge you to check out this live from the studio video made by BreakThru Radio.


     
  • Femi Kuti’feminewalbum1s new album will be out on 1 November! Purchase Africa for Africa through Play.com, Amazon or your local music store. Tracklist:

    1. Dem Bobo
    2. Nobody Beg
    3. Politics In Africa
    4. Bad Government
    5. Can't Buy Me
    6. Africa For Africa
    7. Make We Remember
    8. Obasanjo Don Play You Wayo
    9. Boys Dey Hungry For Town
    10. Now You See
    11. No Blame Them

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  • And the winner is...??? Chiwetel Ejiofor will be playing Fela in the biopic on the life of Fela Kuti. The movie will simply be called Fela. Ejiofor’s credits include 2012 and Children of Men. Ejiofor is learning to play the piano and saxophone for his role and is apparently getting “pretty good at it”!
    chiwetel_ejiofor1

    chiwetel

    2012d

    waxpoetics
  • Wax Poetics, a magazine covering all forms of black music, has dedicated an entire issue to African music with Fela on it’s cover. Available in stores or order your issue online.
     
  • Follow reporter Marco Werman of Music Without Borders to Lagos, Nigeria, in this short documentary on Afrobeat featuring Fela and Seun Kuti. Contains live footage from The Shrine! You can also listen to a breakdown of Afrobeat’s musical components in this audio file.
     
  • UK director Steven McQueen has signed to direct a biopic on the life of Fela Kuti. Filming will start this year in Nigeria and other locations. Steve McQueen won praise with his film Hunger about the IRA hungerstrikes. I will post more info as it becomes available.
     
  • Now available: Fela: Kalakuta Notes by West-African music expert John Collins. See the Books section for a review. Below the author is presented with a copy by Kofi Ayivor, former drummer of Afro-rock sensation Osibisa. Listen to interviews with the author by De Wandelende Tak (partly in Dutch) and Boeken.vpro.nl (in English).


    Title: Fela: Kalakuta Notes
    Author: John Collins
    Publisher: KIT Publishers
    Price: 25 euro’s
    Pages: 159
    Softcover, 8 by 12 inches
    Illustrated
    Published in: April 2009
    ISBN 9789068327489