
FELA KUTI
Afrodisiac (Partisan)
While James Brown was crowned the Godfather Of Soul, Fela Kuti was known as the undisputed Godfather of Afrobeat and both birthed a posse of badass babies of sublime funk. With as many LPs as wives, it’s tricky to know where to start in Fela’s vast catalogue: many would dip in at Zombie, Expensive Shit or Shakara, but less well known is Afrodisiac, which now has the deluxe re-release treatment as the fifth in a series of 50th-anniversary reissues.
Where most of Fela’s tunes build slowly and ebb and flow over up to 15 minutes at a time, Alu Jon Jonki Jon sets off at a blistering pace, with the genius of Tony Allen’s octopus-like drums, a battery of syncopated horns, Fela’s sermonising and electric piano riffs all whipping up into a frenzied maelstrom that your body will find irresistible. Jeun Ko Ku aka Chop’n Quench is an insistent instrumental beloved by the likes of Masters At Work, and Eko Ile is a super-heavy funk jam that JB would be jealous of.
Fela sings in his native tongue, hiding some of the more overtly political lyrics – which made him and his family enemies of the Nigerian government – from the Anglophone world, although Je’nwi Temi / Don’t Gag Me shows a man unafraid to speak his own mind, and when it’s delivered in such a downright groovy manner on Afrodisiac, who are we to argue?
words CHRIS SEAL
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