Fela Kuti

[Reptisaurus!]

Sooo...

Cheeks got the "Opposite People" album from the library.

And it's interesting stuff. Some thoughts...

(A) Really long songs.

(B) Extremely repetetive background music. Makes the base 'n drum lines in "Bitches Brew" seem complex and varied.

(C) But once the songs get going, it really rocks. I keep trying to sing along with the African lyrics and not being able to.

Anyone else listened to this guys stuff? What'd'ya think of it? He's got an insanely freaking long discography... What's good?

[Adam Crocker]

(A) Really long songs.

(B) Extremely repetetive background music. Makes the base 'n drum lines in "Bitches Brew" seem complex and varied.

In that I kind of view the way Fela Kuti's music works in the same way that I do Can: despite a great deal of repetition (or because of it) it manages to lull the listener in with its way with hypnotic rhythms, and in Kuti's case grooves. (And in certain Can songs...of course Can owed a debt to African music as themselves, and like Kuti were partly inspired by James Brown.) Yeah the songs are long but he's trying to create dance music while not being as overt as American and British pop music. It's about caressing you and gently drawing you into the music so I guess the songs have to be long in order to lock you into the groove.

While I have yet to lay hands on a proper album, I have heard several songs of his. Supposedly the album Zombie is considered to be one of his best. I can certainly vouch for the title track which is my favourite song of his. The saxophone (hell the whole horn section) is wonderful. There's a peculiar, percussive sharpness to them. The percussion has very tribal yet funk thing going on that gives the thing a very jungle and very militant feel. When he gets into the lyrics Kuti barks orders like a military man while the whole band merely reply with "Zombie" -- which was his peculiarly illustrative way of condemning the militarism that kept a death grip on his country's life.

(And which he would have to live with throughout his career including an attempt by Nigerian forces to arrest him by planting a joint on him, which inspired Expensive Shit. But that's nothing compared to an armed assualt on his compound in 1977 that injured him, killed his 82 year old mother, and destroyed many of his instruments and tapes. As Cedric Bixler of the Mars Volta put it, "James Brown touring Vietnam was inspirational, but Fela lived his Vietnam every single day.")

[Punchy]

Fela is the shit. Check out "Coffin for Head of State." It's my fave. You won't be disappointed.

I really love the rawness of his albums. The production isn't so hot, the horns play out of tune sometimes, and the keyboard sounds are pretty cheesy. But the emotion and spirit is all there.

Yeah the songs are long but he's trying to create dance music while not being as overt as American and British pop music. It's about caressing you and gently drawing you into the music so I guess the songs have to be long in order to lock you into the groove.


You make a good point but honestly I don't think he was trying to do anything. African music is very trance-like. There are hardly any melodic instruments, it's all drums and percussion playing very repetetive patterns. Music in Africa is religious and spiritual, they actually believe spirits live inside drums. So you get this drone-like rhythms that put you in a trance.

I think Fela heard and loved American R&B and jazz and just applied that to the only music he knew.

[Adam Crocker]

You make a good point but honestly I don't think he was trying to do anything. African music is very trance-like. There are hardly any melodic instruments, it's all drums and percussion playing very repetetive patterns. Music in Africa is religious and spiritual, they actually believe spirits live inside drums. So you get this drone-like rhythms that put you in a trance.

Ah, point taken.

[Reptisaurus!]

In that I kind of view the way Fela Kuti's music works in the same way that I do Can: despite a great deal of repetition (or because of it) it manages to lull the listener in with its way with hypnotic rhythms, and in Kuti's case grooves. (And in certain Can songs...of course Can owed a debt to African music as themselves, and like Kuti were partly inspired by James Brown.) Yeah the songs are long but he's trying to create dance music while not being as overt as American and British pop music. It's about caressing you and gently drawing you into the music so I guess the songs have to be long in order to lock you into the groove.


Yeah, I kind of got that.

The interesting thing to me was the number of moods contained in one song. Like the background rhythm didn't change none, but the emotional context kept changing. He's doing what Mingus does... Telling a story through composition. But it's still the same groove through the whole song!

Weird. Impressive, but weird.

(If that makes any sense. It's tough to describe.)


When he gets into the lyrics Kuti barks orders like a military man while the whole band merely reply with "Zombie" -- which was his peculiarly illustrative way of condemning the militarism that kept a death grip on his country's life.

(And which he would have to live with throughout his career including an attempt by Nigerian forces to arrest him by planting a joint on him, which inspired Expensive Shit. But that's nothing compared to an armed assualt on his compound in 1977 that injured him, killed his 82 year old mother, and destroyed many of his instruments and tapes. As Cedric Bixler of the Mars Volta put it, "James Brown touring Vietnam was inspirational, but Fela lived his Vietnam every single day.")

[/quote]

Huh. I'll buy that next.

Another point... I know there's a bunch of political subtext to his work which I won't nesacarilly get as a sheltered white American.

Which kind of worries me. Although I like his stuff lots, I'm an art history major more than I'm a major in anything else, and that's taught me that you need to understand a piece of art in context to really understand it. Or at least to understand the intelectual message the artist is trying to get across, which is sort-of-but-not-completely seperate from aesthetic appeal.

[Reptisaurus!]

Fela is the shit. Check out "Coffin for Head of State." It's my fave. You won't be disappointed.

I really love the rawness of his albums. The production isn't so hot, the horns play out of tune sometimes, and the keyboard sounds are pretty cheesy. But the emotion and spirit is all there.


Huh. I didn't notice any of that on the album I have. Maybe it's the trance-groovy structure...

Still, I see what yer sayin' about emotion and spirit. It's way different than American or European dance music, which just sounds sterile to me most of the time. This is repetetive, too, but it's so alive, like.


You make a good point but honestly I don't think he was trying to do anything. African music is very trance-like. There are hardly any melodic instruments, it's all drums and percussion playing very repetetive patterns. Music in Africa is religious and spiritual, they actually believe spirits live inside drums. So you get this drone-like rhythms that put you in a trance.



Huh. Interesting. I really like the African idea of music as a seperate spiritual... um, thing, cause I can't think of a better word. I can see the paralel with the ritual side of other religions, like Gregorian Chant. Which is, again, both droning and repetetive, so you can *feel* the music without actively concentrating on the music.

[Punchy]

Huh. I didn't notice any of that on the album I have. Maybe it's the trance-groovy structure...


Haven't heard the one you have. It may sound totally different.

[MicBK]

love Fela...my favorite albums are Gentleman, Shakara, Expensive Shit, No Agreement, Zombie, and Black President. and if you ever want to hear a good story, read about the guy's life. pretty amazing. his son, Femi Kuti, is and has made some pretty good music as well.

[Pinball]

I checked out some of his songs, and funnily enough it didn't seem like they were long enough. Kinda makes sense that he'd transform them into 45-minute jams when playing live...

[Reptisaurus!]

love Fela...my favorite albums are Gentleman, Shakara, Expensive Shit, No Agreement, Zombie, and Black President. and if you ever want to hear a good story, read about the guy's life. pretty amazing. his son, Femi Kuti, is and has made some pretty good music as well.

Huh. Thanks. I'll put them on my list. (Hopefully I can find one of 'em used.)

Didn't know he had a kid. Same kind of musical style?


I checked out some of his songs, and funnily enough it didn't seem like they were long enough. Kinda makes sense that he'd transform them into 45-minute jams when playing live...


The two albums I have have one looooong track (at least ten minutes, maybe twenty, the counter doohicky on my CD player done busted)

and a couple short ones. The long track is definitely the stand-out on both albums.

[MicBK]

Huh. Thanks. I'll put them on my list. (Hopefully I can find one of 'em used.)

Didn't know he had a kid. Same kind of musical style?


yeah same Afro Funk stuff, a bit more electronics in it though. not nearly as good as Fela, of course, but still somewhat talented.

[Adam Crocker]

yeah same Afro Funk stuff, a bit more electronics in it though. not nearly as good as Fela, of course, but still somewhat talented.

Well the only Femi I've heard is Fight To Win which is his most recent and their are a few salient differences. For one thing his songs are a lot shorter and seem to rely more on lyrics. There also seems to be a bit of a hip-hop influence.

[MicBK]

Well the only Femi I've heard is Fight To Win which is his most recent and their are a few salient differences. For one thing his songs are a lot shorter and seem to rely more on lyrics. There also seems to be a bit of a hip-hop influence.

you said it better than i could. they're not the same, but you can definitely see the influence is there. and Femi is still considered afro-beat...just the face of afro-beat has changed sense Fela.

[MicBK]

on a side note, Fela did some pretty heavy colaborations as well, with the likes of Roy Ayers and Ginger Baker that are worth picking up as well.

[Reptisaurus!]

Well the only Femi I've heard is Fight To Win which is his most recent and their are a few salient differences. For one thing his songs are a lot shorter and seem to rely more on lyrics. There also seems to be a bit of a hip-hop influence.

Huh. Interesting. I'll see if'n I can find it.

MBK: What did Fela do with Ginger Baker?

[MicBK]

MBK: What did Fela do with Ginger Baker?

He did an album called Live! with Ginger Baker and the band Africa 70 that spawned the great Tony Allen that came out in '70 or '71...here's the cover art:

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre800/e851/e85121cg32q.jpg

it's not the best stuff of Fela's career, but Africa 70 had a real funky vibe...it's a good listen

[Shevek]

Fela Kuti is one of the most legendary, larger-than-life musicians (in terms of both sound and life story) in Black Music history. I can't think of a single artist other than Fela (except maybe a few experimental jazz types) who would put out LPs with just *one* song on each side back in the mid 70s, and often have 10 minutes of a song before the vocal even comes in...

He also has some of the most amazing album covers out there...

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00000JOEX.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00004XT20.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B00004XT2M.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

(the best ones don't seem to be on Amazon... will try and find some more tho)

Crazy mixture of hand-drawn comic book style (mixed up with traditional African style) art and DaDa-esque collage... looks fantastic at 12x12" size...

Hmmm... that gives me an idea for a thread on best comic book style album cover art...