What better introduction to Nigerian Afrobeat creator Fela Anikulapo Kuti than listening to his tracks? This complex music, whose protesting lyrics were veritable firebrands, has influenced dozens of artists, from Paul McCartney to Keziah Jones, from David Byrne (Talking Heads) to De La Soul, and its author is revered as much by Beyoncé as Thom Yorke from Radiohead or Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Sodi Marciszewer, musical advisor for the exhibition Fela Kuti Rebellion Afrobeat, which begins Thursday, October 20, 2022 at the Philharmonie de Paris, has selected for Franceinfo Culture seven essential titles in the very rich repertoire of Fela Kuti. Artistic director, sound engineer and mixer, Mr. Marciszewer has worked with the “Black President” but also with his children Femi and Seun Kuti, as well as with IAM, Mano Negra, Rachid Taha and Chinese Man. His enlightening comments on the treasures of Fela are a perfect introduction to the life and work of the king of Afrobeat.
1Water Get No Enemy (1975)
Sodi Marciszewer : This track is phenomenally powerful musically and I think that’s one of the reasons it became an anthem. Water Get No Enemy is the very quintessence of Fela’s Afrobeat. It is an essential title, one of those which is the most taken up, including by his children Femi and Seun, and which the public regularly demands. Its success, I think, is due to the power of the very catchy brass riff that starts the song. The text is also great because Fela explains that you can’t do anything without water, you can’t do without it. We need water for washing, cooking, drinking, healing, etc. As we know, Fela has always been persecuted by the Nigerian regime and a friend told him: “Don’t worry you’re like water the government shouldn’t fight you cause water has no enemy. ” The inspiration for the song came from there. But as often with Fela, we are in metaphor and allegory, there are several layers of understanding. I had the pleasure of participating in the recording in 2002 of a cover of this title by Macy Gray, Femi Kuti and D’Angelo for the compilation Red Hot and Riot at Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland studios in New York and it was totally magical. It is one of the most beautiful recordings on which I have collaborated in my life.
2Gentleman (1973)
Sodi Marciszewer : Gentleman is a manifesto. It is an extremely militant song in which Fela denounces cultural colonization. He says he feels good being dressed as one should be in a hot country, where you don’t have to wear a suit and tie, and he finally goes after Nigerians who ape the values Western cultures and the lifestyles that go with them, from food to clothes (Hence the cover which shows a dressed monkey Editor’s note). Fela chants that he won’t be a gentleman, that it’s not part of his vocabulary. Musically, it’s a very lively piece, extremely dancing, with a tenacious rhythm. It takes in the stomach and it is difficult to get rid of. I happen to be riding my bike and it pops into my head and goes on a loop for a while. It really is a centerpiece of afrobeat.
3Zombies (1976)
Sodi Marciszewer : zombie is a very lively piece, played very loudly by each musician, where Fela like the musicians are in the performance, which gives a particular sound and an almost rock energy. Fela also powerfully sings this angry, mocking and assumed title. It should be known that generally, when Fela composed a piece, he first played it for a while in front of the public of his club Shrine in Lagos, before recording it. But once recorded, he never played it on stage again. zombie, a rant in which he openly mocks the heads of the Nigerian military, compared to zombies for their indiscriminate violence, is an exception. Aware that this track was likely to bring him problems, he did not play it live before releasing the album. In fact, this title triggered terrible reprisals from the Nigerian military junta in power at that time. In February 1977, she ordered the sacking of the Republic of Kalakuta, the community that Fela had founded in Lagos and where he lived with his family and all of his extended entourage. During the attack of a rare violence, soldiers raped women, brutalized men and set fire to the house. But they also defenestrated Fela’s 76-year-old mother, who died 14 months later from her injuries. Which brings us to the next piece…
4Coffin For Head of State (1981)
Sodi Marciszewer : This album is both powerful and bitter with very special chords. The musical grid is really special, both sad and intense. In this piece, (written after the Kalakata Republic was completely razed during a trip to Europe by the musician in 1978 Editor’s note), he tells how he and his family brought in 1979 a coffin symbol of a trampled justice in front of the seat of the Nigerian military government, a staging that aimed to recall General Obasango’s role in the death of his mother, feminist activist Funmilayo Anikulapo Kuti. On the musical level, we are still with the group Afrika 70, in my opinion the best group of Fela. They have a fabulous sound because they know how to make their instruments speak in a very expressive and controlled way and that each one is in a well defined role.
Fela is an outstanding composer and a formidable conductor who, like a Mozart, a Beethoven, a James Brown or a Prince, composes the scores of each of his musicians. It’s quite remarkable and that’s also why we can say that Fela invented afrobeat because this musical formula, before him, didn’t exist.
5Expensive Shit (1975)
Sodi Marciszewer : This song recounts another adventure of Fela with the police arriving at his home for yet another arrest. He has weed and in order not to be imprisoned for drug possession, he swallows it all at once. The police, who are not fooled, take him anyway and ask him to defecate to have evidence and accuse him. If I remember correctly, he held back long enough, but he was thrown in prison, and during the night – you have to know that Fela is a bit like Robin Hood, the spokesman for the people, and therefore wherever either there is always someone to help him – his excrement is secretly collected and exfiltrated outside the prison. Then they give him a drink that cleanses his stomach and intestines so that the next day, when he goes to the toilet, his jailers can only see that there is no trace of grass or illicit product. in his stool. Suddenly, he made a song of it by valuing his shit (he laughs). I remember that Fela always had either a joint or a musical instrument in his hand and often even both at the same time. He smoked a lot. But he also ingested THC in the form of jam, which allowed him to travel with it.
6No Agreement (1979)
Sodi Marciszewer : What I really like about No Agreement, which is another manifesto, is that we have a chanted slogan that is self-sufficient. Fela was a man of slogans, he spawned a lot of them, including the famous “Music is the weapon of the Future” (Music is the weapon of the future) and I think he could have worked successfully in advertising agencies. It’s also one of my favorite tracks, but more for musical reasons: it’s trance, and trance is part of Fela’s universe. It is an essential dimension of her music and the fact that she loves us in a physical way. What’s interesting is that it’s not just something rhythmic: the music is based on very few chords, very few notes and patterns that loop, which gives the trance side. If there were more notes, it wouldn’t work.
7CBB (Confusion Break Bones) (1990)
Sodi Marciszewer : It’s a track I participated in, recorded at Angel studios in London with Fela’s other band, Egypt 80, formed after Fela suffered a lot. At that time, he made several stays in prison, he was beaten, deprived of food, and he passed into a slightly more mystical dimension. I don’t think he conceived music in exactly the same way anymore. Part of the joy is gone, it is less in the demonstration and in the happiness of the groove, an essential dimension of Africa 70. This piece is very original because it is symphonic with chords in minor key. I recommend it to discover another facet of Fela, quite mystical, but which brings us into an acidic, bitter and completely new musical universe. There is a musical texture that I have rarely heard elsewhere, including in Fela’s repertoire. The writing and the arrangements are very clever: each note played by each of the instruments is the fruit of an impressive musical maturity. It’s a piece that I listen to like classical music.
Fela Kuti Rebellion Afrobeat Exhibition
at the Philharmonie de Paris – Music Museum
From October 20, 2022 to June 11, 2023
221 avenue Jean-Jaures 75019 Paris