Femi pays tribute to Fela

In The Name of the Father

26/10/1998 - 

On 17 October Femi Anikulapo Kuti and the Fela Foundation took to the streets of Lagos, in Nigeria, to celebrate what would have been the 60th birthday of the late great African music star Fela. (The man renowned for inventing the famous Afrobeat died on 2 August 1997, plunging the entire nation into mourning). Fela's son, Femi, also took the opportunity of launching M.A.S.S. (the Movement Against Second Slavery), and presenting a selection of extracts from his new album "Shoky Shoky" (due to be released on the Barclay label on 16 November). Thousands of Nigerian music fans turned out to celebrate "Fela's Birthday", enjoying a special one-off day of free concerts, organised in conjunction with Alliance Française and the French Embassy in Nigeria. Follow the highlights of "Fela's Birthday" in our on-the-spot report below:

17 October. It's 10am in Lagos, and the morning sun is already beating down on the paving stones of Tafawa Balewa Square. The immense square, framed on two sides by a pair of imposing rostrums, has become a popular rendez-vous for mass gatherings of all kinds. And in August 1997 Tafawa Balewa Square was packed with capacity crowds once again, as thousands of Nigerian music fans waited in line to pay their last respects to Fela (lying in state in his coffin). Meanwhile, at the other end of Tafawa Balewa Square, Fela's group Egypt 80 ran through a medley of their former leader's greatest hits and accompanied the host of singers and musicians who had turned out to pay their own musical tribute to Fela. Today, thousands of music fans will squeeze into Tafawa Balewa Square once again, but this time round the crowd will be vibrating with a different emotion - for today, music fans have come, not to mourn the demise of their idol, but to celebrate the anniversary of his birth. They will also turn out in force to pay tribute to the immortality of Fela's music and remember the singer's message of freedom and equality for all (a message which remains as pertinent as ever today!)

Music fans arrive in droves throughout the afternoon and by 6pm a fever of apprehension and excitement is electrifying the crowd. On the stage erected in Tafawa Balewa Square, groups and singers take it in turn to perform in front of a wildly enthusiastic audience. Bright Chimezie wows the crowd with his 'Highlife', while Daddy Showkey grooves things along with his laid-back reggae beats. Alariwo are on next, warming the crowd up with a catchy ragga set, then it's over to the energetic rap of X-Appeal and the highly danceable soca of Charlie Boy. But - as is only appropriate on Fela's birthday - it's Afrobeat which dominates the entire proceedings, thanks to Ayietoro and Fela's musical heirs. Needless to say, Fela's old group Egypt 80 and Femi's band, Positive Force, soon have the crowd swaying along to their magically rhythmic beats.

It must be said, free concerts in Lagos are not an everyday occurrence - and the crowd are out to enjoy every moment of this exceptional occasion! Hundreds of young music fans from the city's poorer quarters have turned out in force, invading the security space cordoned off right in front of the stage and dancing directly under Femi's feet!

Femi excites veritable passion in the audience assembled in Tafawa Balewa Square - indeed, you only had to have driven around the city's poorer quarters with Femi earlier in the day to understand the enormous respect in which the artist is held! Sitting at the wheel of his Mitsubishi 4X4, Femi was practically mobbed by hordes of excited music fans eager to express their love and gratitude to his father, Fela. "Look, look, it's Fela Kuti !" the cry goes up from the crowd. "No, it's not Fela," someone else shouts, "Fela's dead!" "But he looks so much like him," someone else chimes in, "He must be the new Fela. God bless you, Anikulapo Kuti !" The crowds thronging around the car are beaming from ear to ear, stretching out their arms to embrace the new star. Femi smiles back, shaking as many of the extended hands as he can reach. Then, starting up the engine, he moves on to his next visit.

It's here in the poorer quarters of Lagos that Fela gave a voice to the poor and dispossessed. Throughout his career the legendary African music star fought against Nigeria's military junta with exemplary courage, protesting against successive corrupt regimes which hijacked the country's wealth of natural resources for their own profit. Fela used his songs to campaign for basic human dignity, supporting people's right to escape from poverty (which had been inflicted upon them by Nigeria's increasingly corrupt political system).

And now Fela's son, Femi, has publicly espoused his father's old cause, launching M.A.S.S. (the Movement Against Second Slavery) on 15 October (the date of his father's birthday) in his club Afrika Shrine. Femi has now vowed to continue the struggle - admittedly in a more diplomatic manner than his openly provocative father, but with an equal amount of passion and determination. As Nigeria undergoes a period of transition towards democracy, Femi's movement M.A.S.S. will be asking a number of fundamental questions - why, for instance, when Nigeria boasts such a wealth of natural resources, are such a large proportion of the population hit by petrol shortages and daily water and electricity cuts? And why are so many people living in such abject poverty, many of them starving homeless on the streets? "M.A.S.S. is not intended to be a political movement," Femi declares, and it will only become one if people push us to develop the movement along those lines. Howaever, I am ready to play an active part in the country's political life, if needs be. I consider myself to be a potential bomb waiting to explode."

Femi and his group Positive Force have already proved their explosive potential on stage in any case. And now, with the impending release of his new album "Shoky Shoky", Femi is about to make a major impact on the international music scene. Femi's album (which benefits from superb production) features an impressive rhythm section, a powerful brass section and a series of lucid and positive lyrics. The nine tracks on "Shoky Shoky" are guaranteed to take music fans into a new 'dimension' of Afrobeat. Indeed, Femi's new album reflects the sound of a new generation of Africans marching towards Freedom.

François  Bensignor

Translation : Julie  Street