Yo Nikki Chronicles: Lady/Water No Get Enemy by. Fela Kuti

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Lady/Water No Get Enemy by. Fela Kuti

Hello Hon-Teys!

I've been gone for a while, I was gathering my thoughts and focusing on my bread and butta! However, I'm back and I wanted to share with you a legend that was known by some but has inspired many. I am speaking of Fela Anikulapo Kuti! Born October 15, 1938 as Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, a Nigerian musician, activist, composer and politician whom was famous throughout Nigeria, Europe, UK and United States in the late 1950's up until his death in 1997.

Fela sang about political issues throughout the world and abroad. As his music became more popular he used it as a soapbox to voice his political opinions, which in turn made is recordings more politically motivated. Fela's music became very popular among Nigerian public and Africans in general. In fact, he made the decision to sing in Pidgin English so his music could be enjoyed by individuals all over Africa, where the local language spoken were very diverse and numerous.

Afrobeat is the muscial style performed by Fela Kuti. Which is a complex fusion of Jazz, Funk (espeically the music of James Brown) psychedelic rock and traditional West African chants and rhythms. Some elements often present in Fela's music are the call - and - response within the chorus and figurative but simple lyrics. Fela's songs were also very long, at least 10-15 minutes in length, and reaching the 20 or even 30 minutes, while some unreleased tracks would last up to 45 minutes when performed live. This was one of the reasons that his music never reached a substantial degree of popularity outside Africa. His LP records frequently had one 30 minute track per side. Typically there is an instrumental "introduction" jam part of the song, perhaps 10 - 15 minutes long before Fela starts singing the "main" part.

THE SHRINE (named after the famous nightclub in Lagos, Nigeria) is located in Chicago, IL and NYC is dedicated to Fela Kuti and his sons Femi and Seun Kuti among other groups or individuals that play Afrobeat music.