Were he still alive yesterday, 15
October, would have been Fela Kuti’s
75th birthday. To this day the legacy of the Afrobeat originator lives on
across the globe with his ever-relevant, forthright political views and
powerful music.
Fittingly, yesterday also saw the release of the final tranche
of Fela re-issue albums (‘Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense’, ‘Original Suffer
Head / ITT’, ‘Live In Amsterdam’, Army Arrangement’, ‘Beasts Of No Nation /
ODOO’, ‘Underground System’) as well as the ‘Red Hot + Fela’ compilation which features
interpretations of Fela tunes by a raft of top drawer artists including Angelique Kidjo, ?uestlove (The Roots), M1 (Dead
Prez), Spoek Mathambo, tUnE-yArDs, Nneka, Kronos Quartet, Tony Allen, Baloji,
Chance The Rapper, My Morning Jacket and others. All profits of from this
album go towards HIV/AIDS
education and relief worldwide.
To honour Fela, worldwide Felabration
events are taking place including a week-long Felabration festival in Lagos
organised by the Kuti family at the New Afrika Shrine, 13 Felabration concerts
across the US, one in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, and one in London (full details
to be announced soon).
A number of celebrity vlogs have also been collected which show
artists and other personalities, including Paul
McCartney, Brian Eno and George Clinton, known to hold Fela in
high esteem, saluting the Nigerian icon and talking about their favourite Fela
song. These will be released in batches throughout this week via the official Fela You
Tube channel.
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