MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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Global Routes with TONY BURKE: August 30 2023
Reviews of Afrobeat Classic Gentleman by Fela Kuti and Les Symphatics de Porto Novo Benin
New releases from Mountain, Soul Asylum and Michael McDermott
ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
NIGERIAN sax player, bandleader, composer, political activist and Pan-Africanist Fela Kuti is regarded (with his band Africa 70) as the father of Afrobeat, which combined West African music with funk and jazz, popular not just in Nigeria but across Africa.
Fela made his recording debut in 1970 and his 1973 set Gentleman is seen as an Afrobeat classic. One of his most political albums ever, its title track attacks the colonial mentality of Africans who maintain European customs and clothing styles. The album features a cover collage of a monkey’s head on a western-suited body.
The original Fela Kuti: Gentleman has been issued on vinyl to mark its 50th anniversary by Knitting Factory Records.
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