Fela Kuti – Sorrow, Tears & Blood
https://amf.didiermary.fr/fela-kuti-sorrow-tears-blood/
“Sorrow, Tears and Blood”, a 10-minute track from 1977 with Africa 70, has Fela Kuti calling out the unjust killings that occurred in Nigeria, South Africa and all of the continent more broadly, under multiple authoritarian and totalitarian rules. […]
Fela Kuti Special
https://amf.didiermary.fr/fela-kuti-special-documentary/
This post “Fela Kuti Special” is a selection of documentaries on the life, music and political commitment of the great Nigerian musician and how he evolved from Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti to Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the man with “death in his pouch.”
Nigeria Afrobeat Special
https://amf.didiermary.fr/nigeria-afrobeat-special/
Compilation “Nigeria Afrobeat Special: The New Explosive Sound In 1970’s Nigeria”
The Liberators was a band of some of Sydney’s best musicians playing Afrobeat and AfroFunk Jazz music.
For "Rags to Riches" from their 1st album, released in 2011, the accompanying music video was a tribute to Blaxploitation.
https://www.didiermary.fr/the-liberators-rags-to-riches/
Warning: this music video could be considered #NSFW…
Baba Commandant and the Mandingo Band – Sonbonbela
https://amf.didiermary.fr/baba-commandant-mandingo-band-sonbonbela/
Je vous ai déjà présenté Baba Commandant dans un précédent billet. Sonbonbela est le 3ème album du groupe Mandingo Band, enregistré fin 2022 au Burkina Faso. […]
Tony Allen – Afrobeat Revolution
https://amf.didiermary.fr/tony-allen-afrobeat-revolution/
The Afrobeat Revolution started in Lagos at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in 1963 when Tony Allen met Fela Kuti. Allen was working as studio engineer at the time and Kuti had been hired as a disc jockey with his own jazz request programme.
The Nigerian drummer Tony Allen is credited with creating Afrobeat along with […]
Fela Kuti – Upside Down
https://amf.didiermary.fr/fela-kuti-upside-down/
From the LP “Upside Down” released in 1976 (CD release 1997).
Sandra, the woman who stood by Fela and also brought him in contact with the Black Panther during his transformation years in the United States, came back to visit a highly popular and successful Fela in Nigeria in 1976.
The track was written by […]
Somi – The Lagos Music Salon
https://amf.didiermary.fr/lagos-music-salon-somi/
The Lagos Music Salon is the 4th studio full-length album by jazz hybrid singer and songwriter Somi. It was released in 2014. Somi is an American Jazz and Pop singer and songwriter.
Her music is influenced by her Ugandan and Rwandan roots, and she resides between New York City and Lagos, Nigeria. […]
Seun Kuti and Black Thought remix
https://amf.didiermary.fr/seun-kuti-black-thought-kuku-kee-me-remix/
Nigerian musician Seun Kuti and HipHop veteran Black Thought (head of legendary band The Roots) teamed again for a new remix EP African Dreams, that includes 3 tracks, nearly two months after the release of “Kuku Kee Me (Remix).”
“This EP is something new. I don’t think that something like this has been done before,” […]
From the LP I.T.T. (International Thief Thief) released in 1979.
Fela and his political party Movement Of The People are banned from contesting Nigeria’s presidential election. Fela forms a new Afrika 70 and plays a comeback concert at the University of Ife. He also defies police opposition and opens a new Afrika Shrine in Ikeja, […]
https://amf.didiermary.fr/fela-kuti-international-thief-itt/
Fela Kuti – Gentleman (LP)
https://amf.didiermary.fr/fela-kuti-gentleman-lp/
1973’s “Gentleman” is the 7th in the series of celebratory Fela 50th Anniversary reissues.
Like Fela’s other early 70’s releases, he used each side of his LPs to create a deep groove that pulls the listener in and follows with metaphoric lyrics that call out and critique the corrupt hangover of colonialism. Gentleman is the […]
Fela Kuti – Confusion Break Bones (C.B.B.)
https://amf.didiermary.fr/fela-kuti-confusion-break-bones-cbb/
Confusion Break Bones is a long track (29:10) by Fela Kuti & Egypt 80 on their album “Underground System” from 1992.
“Fela releases Underground System, which will be the final album of newly recorded studio material to be issued during his lifetime. The album is inspired in part by the 1987 assassination of Fela’s friend, […]
Fela Kuti – Mr Follow Follow
https://amf.didiermary.fr/fela-kuti-mr-follow-follow/
Fela Kuti’s Mr Follow Follow was released in 1976/77 on the Zombie album.
The song is about those who allow themselves to be led blindly by others.
“…if you dey follow them book! Na inside cupboard you go quench!… Cockroach dey! Rat dey!… Na inside darkness you go dey! If you have to follow them books, […]
Kokolo Afrobeat Orchestra
https://amf.didiermary.fr/kokolo-afrobeat-orchestra/
Kokolo Afrobeat Orchestra was (is?) an American Afrobeat band from New York City, founded by Ray Lugo and formed in 2001.
Afrobeat Brazil
https://amf.didiermary.fr/afrobeat-brazil/
Afrobeat has seen a solid surge of support for years through multiple reincarnations amongst the underground scene in Brazil. All of the state’s capital cities have at least a band championing the movement, as musicians from diverse corners of the contemporary Brazilian music scene get inspired by Afrobeat and infuse elements into their own work. […]
Kokoroko – Abusey Junction
https://amf.didiermary.fr/kokoroko-abusey-junction-we-out-here/
Released in 2018, “Abusey Junction” is the first record track of 8-piece band, London-based jazz collective Kokoroko.
“We Out Here” is a primer on London’s bright-burning young jazz scene. This new compilation brings together a collection of some of its sharpest talents. A set of nine newly-recorded tracks, We Out Here captures a moment where […]
