Hi-Five: Red Hot + Riot Tribute to Fela Kuti

friday, december 1st was world aids day. in recognition of this fact, the brooklyn academy of music presented a red hot + riot tribute to the life and spirit of fela kuti – who should someday be named the orisha of afrobeat. well, in honor of blactivegan‘s birthday, i surprised him with tickets to the jam, which featured an all-star ensemble that included the incomparable me’shell n’degeocello, eclectic yerba buena, heart-touching amadou & mariam, grooving duo les nubians, spirited cheikh lo, agitational dead prez, ‘afrobeat architect’ tony allen, and absolutely afro-funky keziah jones.

i’m almost at a loss for words at describing how great the show was…i said almost (also check out the nytimes review)! so, here are my five things:

yerba buena

1) great idea to have a non-stop ensemble show, instead of multiple acts performing individually. what a message of musical and cultural unity to have yerba buena and me’shell n’degeocello as the band! les nubians (and the singer from yerba buena) held it down with the background vocals and appropriate boom boom shaking requisite for any afrobeat concert.

2) i really really wanted to see me’shell shine, but after a while i forgot she was there and just settled into the group experience…which i feel all the better for because it allowed people like amadou & mariam, cheikh lo, and keziah jones to get a little more shine. i’d never heard of cheikh lo and keziah jones, but, i was so deeply appreciative of the energy and creativity they brought to their performances that i’m looking to add their music to my collection. if i remember correclty, keziah jones provided the vocals for “colonomentality” and “water no get enemy.”

cheikh lo

les nubians

3) the les nubians sisters are so fly. this was the second time i’ve seen them live…and the unabashed level of intimacy and humanness they bring to a show really makes me feel like i’m in the presence of performers who really and truly are artists. (did that make sense?)

keziah jones

4) there weren’t many pauses during the show, short of two which were very momentous to me. the first being when cheikh lo arrived on the stage. unlike when the other artists entered the stage, he paused to go to hug and cheek-cheek kiss me’shell and les nubians. it was so endearing…one of the nubians grabbed a mic and started commenting on how that week of rehearsing and performing was so emotional for all of the performers and created a strong bond of love between them all. if there were any objective way to test this as fact, it was in the music.

5) the only downside of the show for me was this relentless feeling of annoyance at having been born too late to experience an actual fela kuti afrobeat concert. perhaps it would have taken fela to be there for the stiffs in the audience to realize that afrobeat is for action – whether activism, dancing, or both – not sitting and tapping your feet.

‘teacher don’t teach me nonsense’

 

fela anikulapo kuti was the famed nigerian afrobeat pioneer and human rights activist-artist who passed into the ancestral realm from an aids-related illness in 1997. fela’s music is commonly described as a mixture heavily influenced by james brown’s funkiness, west african highlife, and jazz laden with messages of unity, revolution, and common sense. fela was born fela ransome kuti, but declared that “ransome” was a slave name, and changed it to anikulapo, which means “he who carries death in a pouch.”

learn more about fela.

UPDATE: Check out blactivegan’s review on the concert, the importance of fela, and AIDS activism!

~ by Anayah on December 5, 2006.