I’m waiting for steak tips and chicken noodle soup to arrive in a delivery car — ah, the circumstances under which I motivate myself to write about music. Today’s post is brought to you by the letter W… for Will Magid (of Big Time) whose Afrobeat expertise rubbed off on me this summer. I’m pretty sure that he has a Fela Kuti shrine next to his bed.
Fela Kuti, in short, is the father of Afrobeat — one of the first, if not the first, to popularize West African music in North America. Born in Nigeria, Fela turned down medical school for a musical education and wound up pioneering a genre — not so bad. While Fela’s music might be the grooviest thang you’ve ever heard, it is also loaded with political emotion and commentary. In that sense, I guess he’s comparable Bono, but much sweeter and less Irish.
“Let’s Start” features Ginger Baker on drums — and that should be a statement in itself. Listen to the layers of percussion and rhythm. I can’t help but compare the trumpet in this song to exclamations in the original Batman cartoon, though that might just be me. And just when you thought one all-star drummer was enough: “Open & Close” features Tony Allen behind the kit. Will identifies Allen’s solo as “one of [his] top moments in drumming history.” All I know is, Funk has a lot to owe to Fela Kuti, and you’ll hear it in these two tracks.
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