(August 2021) Episode 349 is FELA KUTI. The man who invented Afro-beat, combining polyrhythms of his Yoruba musical heritage with the sounds and instrumentation of jazz and funk. Immensely influential. I’m not much a ‘world music’ fan, but much of Fela’s music offers an irresistibly fun groove. The height of his musical creativity coincided with a growth of political activism against Nigeria’s military government (and imperialism in general) which got him beat up and jailed. But his pro-liberation stance did not extend to women, as he was apparently a sexist pig.
Favorite album: Gentlemen
Favorite song: Kalakuta Song
Compared to expectations: same
Recommendation: use this groove, to dance to, to liven a party, or play in background while you work
10 creative Fela Kuti song/album titles:
- Ye Ye De Smell
- Expensive Shit
- Equalisation of Trouser And Pant
- You No Go Die…Unless
- Grammarticalogylisationalism Is The Boss
- You Gimme Shit I Give You Shit
- Coffin for Head of State
- Original Suffer-Head
- Government Chicken Boy
- I Go Shout Plenty
Opus Project 