By James Ainsworth
It’s hard to imagine anyone bringing more of the bold magic of Africa to a musical stage than Femi Kuti. A distinctive master of the Afro-beat sound – heavy African drumbeats and bass lines interweaved with jazzy, blaring, powerful horns – Femi Kuti projects a whole new meaning into the words, funk, soul and rhythm. Femi Kuti is once again touring with his band, Positive Force, in the United States, and will be performing at Belly Up in Aspen on Monday, July 30, and at the Boulder Theater on Tuesday, July 31.
Femi inherited the head of the Afro-beat mantle from his father, the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, perhaps the greatest musician and activist voice to emerge from the African Motherland. With his undeniable magnetism and electrifying stage presence, Fela Kuti orchestrated a fabulous stage show with more than 30 dancers and musicians, who blazed their audiences with color, energy, sexiness, and sublime artistry. Fela used his musical success and popularity as a platform to speak out against oppression, corruption, and injustice. For many years, Fela dared to criticize the brutal, repressive military rulers in Nigeria, and as a result he was continually harassed, beaten, and imprisoned. Yet Fela never faltered in his criticism of the tyranny of the ruling elite, and he became an icon to the Nigerian masses and West Africa as a whole. At his funeral in 1997, more than a million common Nigerians crowded the streets around his nightclub, The Shrine, and his home, to pay their respects.
In 1984, the Nigerian government arrested Fela on phony currency trading charges and jailed him for two years, which inadvertently thrust Femi into the limelight as he unexpectedly was forced to assume leadership of his father’s band. Femi had only been playing with his father for a few years. As a young man in his early 20s, Femi suddenly had to carry on his father’s legacy. After his father was released in 1986, Femi felt he had to establish his own band, and for a while he fell out of favor with his father. But, with time, Fela came to approve of Femi becoming a musical force in his own right.
Femi’s band, Positive Force, was originally formed in 1986. Like his father, Femi played the Afro-beat sound, with a large stage ensemble of 17 people, including a six-piece horn section, two percussionists, guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and four singer-dancers. After several European tours and two Nigerian albums, Positive Force debuted in the United States in 1995, captivating audiences much like Fela’s band did years before.
Femi sings about many of the injustices that his father decried, and his music and lyrics bear the same sense of compassion and humanity. Femi won a record contract with MCA as a result of the success of his 1999 release, Shoki Shoki. One of his hippest grooves, a playful song about sex called “Beng, Beng, Beng” – which is actually intended to promote awareness about AIDS, was banned by the government for its supposedly lewd lyrics. Perhaps with the democratization of Nigeria, the political authorities have moved away from the overt repression that plagued his father, but the “Beng, Beng, Beng” episode still leaves one to wonder if the government will ever allow Femi and his musical tradition to exist in the spirit of free speech.
Between recent performances in Nigeria, Femi had a great deal to say about his country and Africa in general, and was keen on taking his tour back to the United States. The tour is promoting a new two-disc CD compilation set of his some of his best works with Positive Force, called Definitive Collection: Femi Kuti. Femi also has been working on a studio album, which is due for release later this year or early next year.
James Ainsworth: How did your father’s death affect you personally, artistically, emotionally, and in terms of your career?
Femi Kuti: It was devastating, he had been ill for a bit, but we didn’t realize how ill. My father was a great man, very strong, and a man ready to die for his beliefs. I still miss him for all reasons, chatting about music, personal problems, and normal guidance a father can give. He made me the individual I am today. One day I asked him to teach me to play a saxophone and he said do it yourself. At the time you get annoyed but you realize he was teaching you to be a stronger person. The 10th anniversary of his death is coming up and we are going to have a huge party at The Shrine – a good way to celebrate his life.
JA: What was it like for you, as a young man, to take over your father’s band in 1984 when the government jailed him on trumped-up charges? You must’ve been in your early 20s back then, and it must’ve been a great responsibility.
FK: My father was always getting into trouble with the authorities; he was often hounded, harassed, and jailed for his outspokenness. In 1977, his compound was attacked by 1,000 soldiers and my father was injured. My grandmother was thrown out of a window and later died due to her injuries. So when in 1984, he was jailed for 10 years for currency smuggling by the authorities, we couldn’t believe it. I then took over the band from 1984 to 1986. It was quite a daunting task because I had not performed by myself in front of so many people, but I could not let my father down. Once I started, though, it kind of came naturally to entertain the crowd. When my father came back I then decided to head up my own band, which as you know he wasn’t happy with, but ultimately we made up.
JA: How has your band, Positive Force, evolved from its formation in 1986 to it current state now, 20 years later?
FK: We have changed many members, my ex-wife is no longer in it nor my sister, Yeni. We have three dancers. One of them was originally in my father’s band but the other two girls auditioned for the part and got it. With regards to the band, only the lead trumpeter and the trombonist are from the original band. Everyone else has changed.
JA: T ell me about your song “Beng, Beng, Beng” and the government’s reaction to it. Is it still banned, or has there been a change in policy with the new democratic leadership?
FK: It is a bit of fun really, and the authorities took it too seriously. I was trying to tell them that the whole issue of sex has to be addressed and not hidden. One minute there is a huge campaign on AIDS and the next minute they are banning my song. The two go hand-in-hand. Don’t they? We need to be more open about sex. Then the whole issue of condoms can be discussed. I also wrote a song about AIDS, “Cover your Bamboo!” to try and make people aware of the problems of having sex. As we know, AIDS is decimating Africa and unless we all become more open it will carry on at a rate it is. And, yes, it is still banned.
JA: How do you feel about the political and social changes in Nigeria in the past decade, with the coming of democracy and Obasanjo’s presidency?
FK: There have been no changes. If anything, life has got worse. Where do I start… Nigeria is Nigeria… Nigeria is full of corruption and nothing has really changed since my father’s time. There is even more disparity of wealth. Nigeria being oil rich, the young people do not understand why they are poor, and crime increases all over. And then there is the issue of religion and the fighting between the Christians and the Muslims. There is a lot of tension and Islamic fundamentalism has grown because of the larger worldwide issues going on.
The only way is for the Africans to help themselves. We have to get over our colonialist/slavery mentality and start to change things for the better. Every country has corruption but there are now corrections in place to find out who the people are who are involved, and therefore, hopefully over time corruption will get better. Also, if other countries could alter their foreign policies such as fair trade, then yes, this will make a difference. But, the reality is strong countries are not going to help weaker countries. They will only play at it. If they become fair-minded they will lose their next election!
We live every day with limited electricity and water. We make the most of it. A new president was voted in recently, Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, but to be honest things are not getting better, just worse. When these people get into power they never fulfill their promises. You see them with their big cars, they buy houses in England or America, they give their kids the best education, but the crop of the people, the masses themselves, they lose. Nigerians are used to being let down by their governments. We are Africa's biggest oil exporter, then how is it that we have fallen far behind other developing countries? Here is a nice figure for you: since independence from Britain in 1960, an estimated $400 billion of oil revenues have gone missing, presumed stolen, by the military and political elite.
JA: Do you feel a strong need to face and challenge some of the same political problems and forces that your father spoke out against?
FK: Of course I do, but it is difficult to change anything unless there is a radical complete overhaul of the existing people in government. I sometimes want to stop talking about the issues because nothing will change. Fela accepted a lot of beatings and still nothing changed. Being a spokesperson for Nigeria will hopefully at least make people sit up and notice the problems we face on a daily basis.
JA: Tell us about your new two-CD set, Definitive Collection: Femi Kuti. What makes this collection special?
FK: The first album is a good retrospective of my past albums, Shoki Shoki and Fight to Win. I have also got two tracks from an earlier album. The second album I have put just my remixes. I think it is such an honor for someone to love your music so much to remix tracks. Finally a track I really love was a track we recorded for Red Hot and Riot called “Water No Get Enemy,” which was a favorite of my father’s. This was recorded with Macy Gray and D’Angelo.
JA: Do you have any plans for other upcoming albums?
FK: Yes, I have already recorded a new album, and my son is playing on it. I think the plans are to release it the end of this year, or early next year.
JA: How do you feel about how your music has been received in America since you first toured here in 1995?
FK: I get a great reaction every time I come over to America, which is great.
JA: It seems that hip hop and Afrobeat are an unlikely combination. What was it like for you to collaborate with artists like Common and Mos Def on your Fight to Win album (2001)?
FK: It was fantastic, you have to keep on experimenting with your music, I think it really worked well.
JA: A friend of mine traveled to Nigeria and had the good fortune of being taken to some fabulous clubs and music scenes along the Nigerian coast, where she had the most incredible music and party experience of her life. She saw a side of Nigeria that very few hear about or know about, and she felt that there was great undeveloped potential for tourism there. Can you comment on this?
FK: I agree… Nigerians love music and it is a hotbed of musical talent. We know that Nigeria has a lot of tourist potential as the Shrine gets loads of tourists as well as local trade.
JA: Is there anything special you want people to know about your band and this upcoming tour?
FK: Just come and be prepared to enjoy yourselves.
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