Fela Kuti - Sorrow, Tears and Blood (1977)/ Opposite People (1977)

Reviews

1977′s Opposite People is another hard Afrofunk workout, with even a featured Fela sax solo before he utters a word, which is incidentally about ten minutes into this sixteen and a half minute opus. He weaves in and out of the call and response female backing vocals, before getting more overtly funky with a bit of Nigerian James Brown-feel. It’s probably one his lesser known tunes but, as an expression of people who go against the wishes of the masses, it’s a cracker. Clocking in at about the same time the curiously titled ‘Equalization of the Trouser and Pant’ has a much slower tempo and as a result is a little more jazzier with a great horn riff, a kind of amalgamation of high-life and old school funk, though it’s a relaxed kicked back song, somewhat playful, and of course Fela only pops in with vocals at about ten and a half minutes. It’s metaphorical Fela; using underwear to describe even the most seemingly insignificant article can be incredibly important. So too with people.

Released in 1977 Sorrow Tears and Blood was the first of Fela’s self released albums on his own Kalakuta Records, after being dropped by his label following the raid on his commune. Of course he was forced to go to court to get these masters returned, and was eventually successful. Whilst it’s easy to attribute the sentiments expressed in this piece to the violence Fela and his authorities experienced at the hands of the military and government, the tune was inspired by the 1976 Soweto uprising in South Africa in which students rioted against the forced teaching of Afrikaans. It’s Fela’s Ohio, and it’s easy to see how the events in south Africa appealed to his own struggle against authorities. They leave sorrow tears and blood, their regular trademark he offers on a much moodier, more subdued mid-tempo piece that is laden with enough emotion to be one his best works.

Of course Colonial Mentality was an ongoing theme for Fela, one that he would return to in numerous forms over the course of his career. He talks of judges who put on white wigs to jail their brothers, of putting on the air conditioner to shut out the climate, the African elites adopting the manners and beliefs of their colonial masters and in a sense remaining slaves. The tune has a real grinding slow burn feel, Fela’s sax just grinding away, the music as a whole just grinding along seemingly innocuously until your attention shifts from his vocals to the way this highly repetitive music just keeps coming at you in waves, highlighted by the backup singers just rolling with the groove while Fela goes off to amuse himself at the keyboard.

This collection of two of the albums he created in 1977 demonstrates the effects that the raids on his Kalakuti Republic had. Reaching out to the Apartheid struggle in South Africa it’s hard not to see similarities with his own struggles with the government, with multinational corporations (i.e. his former record company), and the elites in Lagos who continue to do the bidding of white man. Angry eloquent and a little bit cheeky, this is some of Fela’s best work.

cyclicdefrost.com, written by Bob Baker Fish

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Sorrow Tears and Blood (1977) accurately depicts the trail left in the wake of the February 18, 1977, raid by 1,000 armed Nigerian army men on Fela Kuti and his Kalakuta republic. In keeping with the format upheld on a majority of Kuti's long-players, this disc contains a pair of extended works, featuring one title per LP side. In contrast to the hard-edged and aggressive Afro-funk that Kuti and his Africa 70 became synonymous with, both the A-side title track and B-side, "Colonial Mentality," are seemingly staid, in light -- or perhaps because -- of the cruel state-sponsored attacks that he and his extended family suffered. "Sorrow Tears and Blood" is neither a full-blown, up-tempo funk drone nor a somber dirge. The even-handed, mid-tempo groove trots along at a steady pace and features some comparatively sedate sax work from Kuti. Even the instrumental introduction -- which has been known to clock in at over five minutes -- is reduced to well under three. His lyrics are starkly direct -- "Everybody run, run, run/Everybody scatter, scatter/Some people lost some bread/Some people just die" -- yet the emotive center is gone. Perhaps this is the result of fear, shellshock, or a combination of the two. Kuti's words, however, remain as indicting as ever: "Them leave sorrow, tears, and blood/Them regular trademark." "Colonial Mentality" returns to a more seething and slinky musicality. The dark and brooding bassline undulates beneath a brass-intensive Africa 70. Rarely has Kuti's musical arrangements so perfectly imaged James Brown's J.B.'s or Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra. The message is delivered as a fable, demonstrating that it is the individuals who live in a stifling "Colonial Mentality" who are the slaves. His preface, stating that the colonial man had released them yet they refuse to release themselves, sets out to prove that slavery is a continual and concurrent state of mind for Africans. In 2000, Sorrow Tears and Blood was coupled with Opposite People (1977) and both long-players were issued on a single CD as part of the "Fela Originals" collection. The sound is quite good despite some vinyl surface noise, presumably from the source material.

allmusic.com

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The two albums included on Opposite People/Tears of Sorrow book-ended the Nigerian army's deadly raid of the Kalakuta Republic, Fela Kuti's self-appointed independent state domicile, and Kuti's hostile feelings toward upper-class Nigeria are prominent on both sessions. Opposite People, recorded between 1976 and 1977, is brave and brassy, beaming with an almost joyful defiance on the title track. This album isn't particularly outspoken, focusing on the celebration of freethinking and only referring to politics through a metaphor about pants (yes, pants). But Tears of Sorrow, the first recording released after the Kalakuta's capture, is fiercer; the band's sound almost seeming to drip blood. Slower and more persistent, the ominous grooves here no longer bother with metaphor, crying out bluntly, "some people lost some bread, someone just died...them leave sorrow, tears, and blood." Alongside Woody Guthrie's Struggle, this is as stirring as musical social protest gets. "Sorrow Tears and Blood" boils over with Fela's singing and the frantic call-response of horns and chorus; the scattering sounds of people fleeing a police-and-army attack. And "Colonial Mentality" calls for a united Africa to stand up against its widespread leftovers of imperialism. The entire collection is chock-full of Kuti's distinctive polyrhythmic orchestra-funk in top form.

cduniverse.com

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Critics at amazon.com:

Its rare that you can listen to an album that stands alone both on MUSIC and MESSAGE... Fela's music consistantly does this... one element doesn't compensate for the other... both are presented at an unbelievably high spiritual and musical level. Take SORROW TEARS & BLOOD... well before Fela's powerful message comes in, the tune is unbelievably musically engaging in depth and funk... Coltrane with a JB pocket.... then Fela comes in mocking the sounds of an approaching police car with his voice... (*anyone familiar with Fela, especially as his music matured is well aware of the brilliant way his pieces just build and build and not simply "stop" where you'd expect them to, but to keep going in interesting directions.) - - within moments, Fela is wise enough to state the first chorus of his verse several times prior to "chanting" his scathing indictment of the army and police in his own country (which can be assumed to also represent police and military abuse throughout the world)... in response the well orchestrated chorus responds with the same vigor and intensity of the horn's JB like horn punches letting you know that they agree and are listening... After the message has been stated Fela delivers his message, then returns to that incredible verse of his once again, then the vocals make way for his solo, Fela being one of the one of the only men in history who could probably be described as both the African JAMES BROWN (actually JB said this) and John Coltrane (my opinion).

The first time I heard some of the tunes on this album I remember it hit me similar to the first time I discvoered modern Jazz... I had turned the radio dial too far to the left, and heard this music that was so different and non-worldly that I wound up just laying on the floor feeling the world was spinning and not knowing what was going on... it was like a religious experience. Rarely since had I had such feelings toward music... but when I listened to Fela's BLACK PRESIDENT CD (which had two of the tunes from this album) it happened all over agin.

Though Fela has developed a cult following since his death, I think the world has yet to truly describeda man with a message as strong and powerful as the Marley's and Gil Scott Heron's and groove that has MANY REVIEWS uttering the words JB and ART BLAKEY in the same breath (and actually knowing what they're talking about.)

(P.S. The Vocal arrangements over the incredibly mysterious, sharp, yet funky rhythmic groove and horn arrangements in COLONIAL MENTALITY in my book serve as high points in musical innovation and performance.)

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It's twenty years ago that I first listened to Fela. Funny how time flies. I was a musician at the time, looking for a new direction, something that wouldn't grow stale so easily, and to me Fela represented it. My first record of his was Sorrow Tears And Blood. This music has the power to grab you and never let go. It's relaxed, yet pulsing, funky cool, yet heart warming. This is about real life problems, heroism, suppression, fearlesness and integrity. Reading up on his life adds dimension to the music. Be forewarned though. Once you've heard Fela Anikulapo Kuti ('the one who carries death in his pouch') it will be hard to go back to silly love songs and shallow commercial tunes. Although not a mainstream name, Fela more than deserves a place among the musical legends of the 20th century. If the quality of the true classics is that they don't grow stale, Fela is right up there with them. His music is timeless.

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This album explains why Fela Kuti is the undisputed King of Afrobeat, but I could say the same for most of his albums (minus the misogynistic songs, which really are few :). You can't go wrong with this album if you love afrobeat. To be honest, while all the songs are wonderful, my favourite is Colonial Mentality because it reminds me of the struggle to decolonize from European culture. Whether you are a huge Fela Kuti fan or a beginner, this is still the CD to buy. These songs should've made it to his Best Best compilation but for some reason they didn't. I still HIGHLY recommend it!


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Sorrow, Tears and Blood (1977)

Fela wrote the title track of this album as a response to the Soweto Uprising of 1976 in which thousands of South African students protested the forced teaching of Afrikaans, the colonial language of Apartheid. During the uprising and the ensuing riots, hundreds of students were killed. The song calls out killings that have gone on in the name of authority and totalitarian rule as well as the instruments of repression of colonial Africa – the police and the army. In this way the song indirectly references the brutality that Fela and his family have experienced in the series of raids on his family compound, the Kalakuta Republic. The musical composition parallels the somber tone of the lyrics; focused and direct, the track avoids the bombastic funk of many of Fela’s compositions.

“Colonial Mentality” follows in the same manner, pointing out that those who wish to live in a post-colonial mentality are in essence living as slaves. Musically, the Africa 70 returns to a more funk and jazzy grooves while relaying a pertinent message to those who looked to Fela as a leader of the resistance.

Written by Mabinuori Kayode Idowu




Tracklist

1. Sorrow Tears and Blood
2. Colonial Mentality



Opposite People (1977)

“Opposite People” is a rant expressing Fela’s aggravation with people who are contrary or go against the grain of the crowd. His annoyance extends to a person who ruins the fun of a group of people dancing, or someone who is trying to speak seriously when others are simply enjoying themselves. “Equalization of Trouser and Pant” explains that all people are equal both naturally and under the law; everyone has a role to claim in society. He uses the graphic example of underwear to explain his point – underwear may seem insignificant, but we all need our underwear at the end of the day, or we’ll be naked underneath our trousers. In other words, the small man in society is just as important as the big man.

Written by Mabinuori Kayode Idowu



Tracklist

1. Opposite People
2. Equalisation Of Trouser and Pant

Kiala - Vocalist of Ghetto Blaster - is lookin' for some record label!

From Lagos' blazing smoky clubs to the Seine's piers, through New York and Los Angeles, persistent memories remain. A founding member of the band Ghetto Blaster and Fela's loyal partner in arms, Kiala has kept the fire going and sparkling. Full of impertinent innovative energy, Kiala blows the afrobeat burning breath. Alive and kicking!

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His current plans are to publish his new disc "One Race" but the album is not released yet.


In his own words:

I'm still looking for a label. If you or anyone reading this has any idea in ... you're welcome to contact him at his myspace, facebook or twitter account!!!



Check out some tunes here:






Check out some videos here!

Classic beats from Ghana: Basa Basa Soundz

Basa Basa Soundz were one of the three groups that Faisal Helwani managed under his “F” Promotions umbrella in the 70s in Ghana. (Basa Basa literally means ‘chaos’.) They were mainly a Ewe band that played a fusion of rock mixed with the agbadza rhythm of eastern Ghana where they were from.

soundwayrecords.com

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An aricle about John Oko Nyaku of Basa Basa Soundz:

For connoisseurs of West African music of the 1970s, Nyaku's name would be familiar as a founding member of the popular Ghanaian afro-funk group Basa Basa Soundz. The young Nyaku brothers and their group circulated in a crowd that included the most renowned African musicians of the day.

"We played side-by-side with Miriam Makeba, Sunny Ade, (and) Sir Warrior," described Nyaku excitedly. "We were mingling with politicians and heads of state, playing for foreign dignitaries in our kente cloth." He demonstrated by picking up a small, wooden flute laying among the stacks of photos on his desk, and improvising a light-hearted jazzy tune. "The minute you pick up an instrument, it tells you what to say," adds Nyaku with a smile.

For young African musicians of that era, however, one artist took preeminence above all others. I was Fela's friend and we played in Kalakuta Republic, said Nyaku proudly. Fela Kuti, the renowed creator of afrobeat and a former resident of Ghana, was impressed by the twins' band and played saxophone on the band's self-titled 1976 album. While Fela introduced them to sophisticated recording technology and an international crowd of producers, the young students also got a brutal initiation into the underside of African dictatorial politics during one early performance.

"Our first performance at Kalakuta was followed by the raid," said Nyaku in a reference to the infamous police incident that nearly cost Kuti his life. "We were eyewitnesses to his mother getting thrown out of a window. Femi (Kutis musician son) was still a baby at the time." Jarred by the casual violence they encountered, the twins were still determined to benefit from the state-of-the-art recording facilities in Nigeria. They spent twelve years in the country _"eating delicious amala and ewedu like Lagosians," quipped Nyaku and trying to gain enough momentum to create an international audience.

As opportunities dwindled and an economic collapse during the early 1980s threatened the growth of the Nigerian music business, the Nyaku's decided to seek success in New York City. The problems were apparent almost immediately, said Nyaku. "It's different to form a band here," he said. "You had to have enough front money to engage people for three or six months (at a time)."

Unable to finance his musical dreams, Nyaku bided his time and took a job as a security officer. He also began to turn his pastime of photography into paying work when he discovered that editors in both Africa and the United States were interested in his snapshots from concerts and society celebrations. "One photo I had taken at a party caught the eye of a journalist friend from Columbia University, and he encouraged me to go into photojournalism."

His daytime position as an officer for the international security company Wells Fargo often gave him backstage access to performers at venues like Radio City Music Hall. He also kept busy shooting special events, prominent weddings, and other celebrations. He devoted himself to full-time photography around three years ago, and has continued to add to his growing list of regular clients. His work has appeared in the New York Daily News, Ghana Review International, the Amsterdam News, and of course, The AFRican. He is also currently in talks with a major museum to put together an exhibit of his works.

Despite his fifteen years of professional experience in event photography and photojournalism, Oko maintains the enthusiasm of a novice towards his work. "I look at it as a hobby, even today," said the lively photographer, as he sat down over a bottle of Senegalese ginger with The African. "I'm still growing."

africanmag.com, written by Olayinka Fadahunsi






Tracklist

01. Nagla
02. Lavajo
03. Banyiriba
04. My People
05. Desorolape
06. Yes We Can
07. My Kind Of Feeling
08. Disturbed
09. Odjelege
10. Nature
11. Peace

Another review of Seun Kuti's "From Africa With Fury: Rise"

After enjoying an amazing concert of Seun Kuti in Hamburg, Germany, yesterday I have to add another interesting review of his new album!

Here we go:

With the mighty new From Africa With Fury: Rise, Seun Anikulapo Kuti heads up Egypt 80, the extraordinary combo first fronted by his renowned father. The album follows Kuti’s critically praised debut, 2008’s Many Things , which was unanimously hailed for continuing Fela’s musical legacy. From Africa With Fury: Rise sees Kuti finding his own idiosyncratic voice as songwriter, singer, and band leader, its songs and sonic approach marked by provocative edge and mature self-assurance.

Produced by Brian Eno, John Reynolds, and Kuti, with additional production by Godwin Logie, and mixed by John Reynolds and Tim Oliver, the album captures Seun and Egypt 80’s extraordinary power, fraught with the scorching rhythms and kinetic funk energy that has earned the band – as ever, under the leadership of alto saxophonist Lekan Animashaun – worldwide acclaim as one of today’s most incendiary live acts. With Kuti’s booming vocal stylings at the forefront, songs like “African Soldier” et “Mr. Big Thief” are fueled by call-and-response hooks, breakneck tempos, and combative, topical lyricism which firmly sets the classic Egypt 80 sound in the modern era.

“I wanted to do something completely different,” Kuti says. “Not different by trying to be American or European with my sound, just trying to make a very different album from my last album. My last album, it was my first time in control, I was not as confident as in saying what I wanted. This time, I said, ‘Okay, I can be more confident in how I express myself, I can say what I want, be as complex as I want.’”

Kuti was concerned that studios in his hometown of Lagos, Nigeria were not up to the job, so the album’s basic tracks were recorded at Rio de Janiero’s Cia. Dos Tecnicos Studios with veteran producer/mixer Godwin Logie (Steel Pulse, Horace Andy) behind the board. In the fall of 2010, Kuti made two visits to London where he mixed the record alongside legendary producers Brian Eno and John Reynolds. Eno – an avowed fan who had previously invited Kuti and his band to perform at Sydney’s Luminous Festival 2009 and the UK’s Brighton Festival 2010 – has nothing but the highest praise for Seun and his band, hailing them for “making some of the biggest, wildest, livest music on the planet."

Co-producer Reynolds (whose work as musician, producer, and mixer spans such artists as Sinéad O’Connor, U2, and Natacha Atlas) agrees, applauding Kuti and Egypt 80’s distinctive Afrobeat as “a musical adrenaline rush.”

“Amazing beats, horns, chants,” he adds, “all beautifully crafted and delivered with the punch of a Jūdan master. A most incredible force, Seun carries a great soul which will touch everyone who meets him.”

Kuti is equally effusive about his co-producers, reminding “Brian Eno is ‘Brian Eno’ for a reason. He has a great mind when it comes to music. He adds new dimensions to the sound. He showed me new ways of opening up the sound I’d never have thought of on my own. Not to downplay the work of John Reynolds, who is an incredible producer. I’m really glad I had them work on the album.”

Eno, Reynolds, and Kuti sought tension and release in the Rio recordings, incorporating breathing room and sonic space into the intricate rhythms and melodies. Further tracks – performed by Eno, Reynolds, guitarist Justin Adams (Robert Plant, Tinariwen), keyboardist Julian Wilson (Grand Drive, Belinda Carlisle), and guitarist Leo Abrahams (Florence + The Machine, Brett Anderson, Bryan Ferry) – were cut to lend further musical flavors to Egypt 80’s archetypal Afrobeat. While Kuti has nothing but the highest praise for his collaborators, he is equally quick to note that the songs of From Africa With Fury: Rise had been written more than a year prior to recording and had long been featured in live performance. Despite the studio craftsmanship, Seun sees the recording process as merely a means to an end, a way of capturing his music’s magic for posterity.

“Afrobeat has to go from stage to studio, not studio to stage,” he says. “I don’t believe in going into the studio to write songs. You create music in the world, outside, in the environment. You create music with nature, not in the studio. You go to the studio to record, that’s it. Music created in the studio is commercial music, music that only wants to sell, that has nothing to do with the world.”

Born in 1983, Seun first began performing with Egypt 80 at the age of nine, warming up audiences with renditions of his father’s songs. After Fela’s death in 1997, Seun stepped up to the front of the band, leading the celebrated combo as both lead vocalist and saxophonist. While his father’s influence cannot be understated, Kuti was determined to cut his own distinctive musical path, incorporating contemporary influences into the traditional Afrobeat approach.

“What inspires me is the time that I live in,” Kuti says. “Basically what is happening today in Africa are the same things that were happening 40 years ago, when my father was songwriting, but they’re happening in different ways. So when I write my music, it’s from the perspective of a 27-year-old man living in 2011, instead of a 30-year-old man living in the 1970s.”

Sadly, Kuti finds himself challenging many of the same injustices his father fought in his heyday, from corporate greedheads to militaristic leaders to the ever-futile war on drugs. Perhaps the album’s most unequivocal battle cry is the blistering “Rise” , in which Kuti impels listeners to fight “the petroleum companies” that “use our oil to destroy our land,” “the diamond companies” that “use our brothers as slaves for the stone,” and “companies like “Monsanto and Halliburton” which “use their food to make my people hungry.” But where Fela’s work often featured an explicit call to revolution, Seun’s goal is subtler. He sees his role as that of an educator, speaking truth to power in order to provoke awareness and debate throughout his beloved homeland.

“In Africa today, most people are struggling in silence,” Kuti says. “The systematic oppression of the people has made them blinded to their reality. Everybody’s just thinking about survival. Nobody wants to stand up for anything, everybody just wants to tow the line. So I’m trying to make people think about these things that they are forgetting. I want to inspire people to want things to change.”

Seun Kuti is determined to speak to the new generation of young Africans born after his father’s glory days. If he learned but one lesson from Fela, it is that that no one has greater impact on hearts and mind than the true artist. As such, the powerhouse protest music found on From Africa With Fury: Rise serves as a kind of musical antidote to the corporate pop that he feels is polluting Africa’s airwaves, distracting its citizens from the things that truly matter.

“Music has great impact on people’s feelings,” Kuti says. “That’s what music should be. Pop music today is all about me, me, me. Nobody is singing about we. But nothing can change if we don’t look out for our brothers and sisters.”

public.because.tv

Highlife classic from Ghana: Pat Thomas - False Lover (with the Sweet Beans)

Information

Pat Thomas, a native of Agona, in the Ashanti Region was born to a father who was a music teacher and a mother who was a band leader. Pat has always been in love with music from an early age, and he learned a lot of band organization and music writing from his uncle Onyina who played with Nat King Cole, Miriam Makeba, Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald.

It was during his stay with his uncle that he learned how to play the guitar and drums. In the early 70's he came to Accra to join a band known as the Blue Monks under the leadership of Ebo Taylor. This was the resident band of Tip Toe Nite Club. It was during one of his shows that one Caucasian lady who was in attendance fell in love with his voice and signed him up to go to Ivory Coast to form a group called The Satellites. He later came to Ghana to form the Sweat Beans Band and that became the band of choice during the Kutu Acheampong Era.

Pat was crowned Mr. Golden Voice of Africa in 1978 and at the same time won the ECRAC award of the year. In 1991 he also won the Album of the year with his "Sika Ye Mogya" song.

Pat moved to Europe and played in almost every city in Europe with his band the Anabos. Pat moved to London, then to Canada where he lived for ten years. Pat is now residing in Ghana and can proudly boast of 15 albums to his credit. His musical jeans have rubbed off onto his children and his daughter, Nana Yaa is one of the best female vocalists in Ghanaian music.

ghanaweb.com

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Pat Thomas was once crowned the Golden Voice of Africa and it seems there has been no turning back for the highlife star.

Nana Kwabena Amoh Mensah better known as Pat Thomas in the highlife circles finished his elementary school in the late 60s. His parents Joseph Amoh and Susanne Tabuah wanted him to continue his schooling but he also wanted to follow his childhood dreams of being a musician.

Ghana Music.com: Can you please tell us where why you were madly in love with music.
Pat Thomas: I was so much in love with music that, I couldn’t continue my education, which my parents were a mad at me. Meanwhile they forgot that they were all musicians. My father was a music teacher and my mum was a singing bandleader.

After secondary school, he went to stay with his uncle by the name Uncle Onyina who was also a musician to learn more about music. “My uncle had a lot of musical equipments so I learnt how to play the guitar and drums. I listened to LPs of Nat King Cole, Miriam, Makeba, Ray Charles, and Ella Fitzgerald”, Pat Thomas said.

Ghana Music.com: Did you face any hardships in your early stages?
Pat Thomas: I faced no hardships because my Uncle who I stayed with helped me a lot. I did many voice exercises.

After living in Takoradi for five years, he later came down to Accra to join a band called ‘Blue Monks’ that was led by Ebo Taylor. They were resident band of Tiptop Nite Club. One night at the Tiptoe Nite Club, a white lady approached him that he wanted to make a band. The white woman chose Pat Thomas and the trumpeter of Blue Monks to form a band called ‘The Satellites’, which played shows in Ivory Coast.

At the time he came back to Ghana, General Kutu Acheampong wanted to form a band so he formed his own band called ‘Sweet Beans’ in 1972, which toured the whole nation for state functions under Kutu Acheampong’s reign. Sweet Beans comprised of three Rastafarians and himself. They had songs like ‘Stay there’, ‘Sweet baby’ and ‘Let’s think it over’. The band was disbanded and he left for Germany in 1977 and back in the late 80s.

Before leaving for Germany, he formed a band called ‘Anabos’, which played in big cities like Toronto, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Abuja, Frankfurt, and Berlin in 1978 and 1979 because he was trying to go international with his English songs.

In 1975, the Arts Centre crowned him ‘’Golden Voice of Africa’. He also won ECRAG album of the year in 1997 with the album “Sika Ye Mogya”. Some album titles that Pat Thomas has under his sleeves are ‘Sika Ye Mogya’, ‘Medo Waise’, ‘Yesu Se Bra’, ‘False Lover’, ‘Marijata’, and ‘Stay there’. Pat Thomas is also a member of COSGA and MUSIGA.

Ghana Music.com: What do you think of highlife fused with hip-hop, which has given birth to hiplife?
Pat Thomas: Highlife is still living. Once hiplife songs are not profane, it is a good movement. I hope to bring live band music back.

Ghana Music.com: How did you collaborate with Daddy Lumba on his current latest album?
Pat Thomas: I happened to meet Daddy Lumba at Kwahu and we played a show together. He again talked to me about having me on his album at his studio in Germany. The song is good and fine with me.

His ending words were to all to musicians to respect their elder musicians and learn hard because respect is what has placed him where he is now. He says thanks to his wife, Mama and all his fans.

Pat Thomas can be identified with songs like ‘Medo Wiase’ (1991), ‘Megyedzi So’ (1993), ‘Gye Nyame Dzi’ (1996), ‘Sika Nantee’ (1999) and ‘Anoma’ (2000) and can currently boast of 10 – 15 albums to his credit.

modernghana.com









Tracklist

01. Revolution
02. False Lover
03. It Takes Time
04. Sweet Baby
05. Set Me Free
06. Don't Beat The Time
07. Abotare Na Ntease
08. Odo San Bra
09. Mere Bre
10. Mbaa Yi
11. Wo Abe Aso
12. Eye Wo Asem Ben


... a couple of songs of this album can be downloaded at amazing likembe!

Fela Kuti - Upside Down (1976)/ Music of Many Colours (1980)

Reviews

Recorded four years apart, Upside Down (1976) and Music Of Many Colors (1980) are thematically unconnected with the events surrounding the sack of Kalakuta. They are unusual in that each includes lead vocals by guest American singers. The first features Sandra Isidore, the second singer and vibraphonist Roy Ayers.

Kuti went through some major cultural and political changes during the 1969 US tour which concluded with the formative Afrobeat recordings collected on The '69 Los Angeles Sessions . Perhaps the most far-reaching of these was his befriending of Sandra Isidore, a political activist who introduced him to the ideas of Malcolm X, Eldridge Cleaver and other black radicals. (Isidore also affirmed Kuti's use of reefer, though she didn't, as is sometimes claimed, introduce him to it; he had first enjoyed weed in London almost a decade earlier).

In 1976, Isidore visited Kuti in Nigeria, and sang on Upside Down. She's a competent singer, but the main points of interest are the lyric, in which Kuti observes how everything in Nigeria is "upside down" (or ass about face as English would have it), and her ongoing importance in Kuti's life.

In 1979, Roy Ayers' band toured Nigeria as the opening act for Kuti, and the two decided to make an album together, one side each. Ayers' side was "2000 Blacks Got To Be Free," a straight-ahead piece of jazz funk with a simple horn arrangement, in which Ayers testified that by the new millennium Africa would (or at least should) be liberated from any vestiges of colonial influence. Kuti's "Africa Centre Of The World" was a more collaborative piece, back in the Afrobeat groove and prominently spotlighting Ayers' vibraphone, which meshes wonderfully with the rich, motivic horn charts.

Read the full article at allaboutjazz.com

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So the Fela reissue juggernaught rolls on and we’ve got the 1976 Upside Down album. It came at a time during a brief lull in harassment from the Nigerian government and the music benefits dramatically. It’s incredibly tight, punchy, with squalling sax and relentless energy. Perhaps most interesting is the presence of Sandra Akanke Iszadore on vocals, the women who introduced Fela to black consciousness and the Black Panthers during his formative year in the US. It’s quite incredible hearing another voice at the helm of Fela’s weapon Africa 70, very unusual, yet she sounds quite amazing, totally primed and commanding with lyrics penned by Fela, comparing the chaotic nature of Africa with the more organized systems in the West. “Everything Upside Down/ Disorganize,” she repeats over and over. It’s upbeat urgent and taut, a really unique tune in his oeuvre.

Go Slow picks up on the disorganization at the heart of 1970′s Lagos where the oil boom sent people flocking to a city without the infrastructure to cope. Go Slow is about the infamous traffic jams where you could apparently spend as long as a day ensnared in traffic. Musically it’s really interesting, perhaps modeled on a traffic jam, beginning plodding before picking up tempo and then frustratingly slowing right down when it should be building before finding a comfortable canter, it’s another 14 minute piece, the equivalent of a three minute pop song for Fela and it has him equating being stuck in a jam like being in jail. It’s a tune with a really nice almost sultry groove, the kind of tune that just weaves in and out and allows the listener to just float along with it.

In 1979 US funk soul vibraphonist Roy Ayers toured Nigeria. He opened for Fela and clearly they enjoyed each others company enough to record an album together. It’s pretty wacky stuff, Ayers sleazy sexy soul vibe with Fela’s militant ethos. 2000 Black is an almost spoken word afro funk workout with Ayers delivering a serious message that by the year 2000 “all blacks got to be free,” and to ‘”hink about your future and don’t forget your past.” However it’s with his sultry bedroom voice which comes across as a little weird, particularly with it’s cheeky wah wah guitar accompaniment. In fact it could almost pass for a regular Roy Ayers track, aside for the occasional horn stabs and call and response backing vocals.

Africa Centre of the World, Fela’s contribution is a more traditionally Afrobeat orientated tune, yet the inclusion of Ayers vibraphone is nothing short of glorious, trickling across the rigid beats like liquid. It’s what Ayers does best and here melding with Fela it’s one of those joyous musical combinations/ accidents/ inspirations that you can only dream about, particularly about five minutes into this 18 minute opus where Ayers starts soloing. Though he continued to play with Fela occasionally in the US, you almost wish Ayers had stayed on to join Africa 70 as the tune no longer feels so Felacentric, it’s clear there’s another power in the room.

The combination of these two albums is no an accident. Though four years apart they both represent Fela opening up his music to outside forces, both of whom he appears to have felt an enormous feeling of trust and affinity with. Though he seems to have maintained his vision and musical approach, aside from Ayers 2000 Black, the outside influences have pushed the music into different realms, dramatically changing its context and meaning, but perhaps more importantly creating some really unique diversity within Fela’s expansive oeuvre that also happen to be great tunes .

cyclicdefrost.com

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This two-on-one-disc CD reissue brings together a couple of the more unusual offerings in Fela's discography. Upside Down, released in 1976, is the usual two-song, half-hour deal, the songs beginning with several minutes of instrumental solo trades before the socially conscious lyrics enter. The song "Upside Down" itself, however, is sung not by Fela but by Sandra Akanke Isidore. She was a woman who Fela met during his stay in the United States at the end of the 1960s, and who is credited with helping to elevate Fela's own social awareness and ethnic identity. It's basically like hearing a Fela track with a different vocalist, then. Although Isidore's pipes aren't as strong as Fela's, it makes for something refreshingly different in the midst of all those similar two-song Fela releases from the mid-'70s. The other track, "Go Slow," is a little jazzier, and puts less emphasis on lyrics than most Fela tracks, with the singing largely limited to chants that punctuate the instrumental arrangement. On Music of Many Colours, Fela collaborated with American jazz/soul crossover vibraphonist Roy Ayers. Ayers wrote and sang one of the two lengthy tracks that comprised the album, "2000 Blacks Got to Be Free." Musically, the match didn't work out that great here, putting Fela's Afro-funk ensemble to a disco beat, though the lyrical advocacy of African unity fit in with Fela's usual lyrical preoccupations. Fela takes the vocal and compositional chores for the album's other song, "Africa Centre of the World," which is like a customary Fela track decorated by Ayers' vibes flourishes, and chained to a rather more conventional Western beat.

cduniverse.com

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"Upside Down"

Upside Down, released in 1976, is one of the more unusual items in Fela Kuti's discography from the period. Not structurally -- it's the usual two-song, half-hour deal, the songs beginning with several minutes of instrumental solo trades before the socially conscious lyrics enter. The song "Upside Down" itself, however, is sung not by Kuti but by Sandra Akanke Isidore. She was a woman that he met during his stay in the United States at the end of the 1960s, and who is credited with helping to elevate his own social awareness and ethnic identity. It's basically like hearing a track by this artist with a different vocalist, then. Although Isidore's pipes aren't as strong as Kuti's, it makes for something refreshingly different in the midst of all those similar two-song releases from the mid-'70s. The other track, "Go Slow," is a little jazzier, and puts less emphasis on lyrics than most Kuti tracks, with the singing largely limited to chants that punctuate the instrumental arrangement.

allmusic.com

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"Music In Many Colours"

This meeting of the minds and bands of Afro-funk creator Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and American vibist and R&B/jazz innovator Roy Ayers is a collaboration that shouldn't work on the surface. Fela's music was raw, in your face politically and socially, and musically driven by the same spirit as James Brown's JBs. At the time of this recording in 1979, Ayers had moved out of jazz entirely and become an R&B superstar firmly entrenched in the disco world. Ayers' social concerns -- on record -- were primarily cosmological in nature. So how did these guys pull off one of the most badass jam gigs of all time, with one track led by each man and each taking a full side of a vinyl album? On hand were Fela's 14-piece orchestra and an outrageous chorus made up of seven of his wives and five male voices. For his part, Ayers played vibes, and saxophonist Harold Land blew like the soul master he is. The rest of the Ayers septet performed on his tune only, the funk fest "2,000 Blacks Got to Be Free," an open-ended soul groove overdriven into Afro-funk by Fela's orchestra. Ayers is down on the quick changes, and his band leads the orchestra in pulling down the funk into a hypnotic sway and groove. On Fela's "Africa -- Centre of the World," everything starts out dark and slow with a chant from the master and then the chorus and Fela's trademark tenor honk. The horn section kicks in and Ayers starts playing all around the mix like a restless spirit. He darts in and out of the changes and sometimes hovers above them. The effect is as mesmerizing as it is driving. This is a sure bet for any bash where you want 'em to dance until they drop. For the purpose of musical history, this was a meeting that panned out in all the right ways and left listeners with a stellar gift of a recorded souvenir.

allmusic.com

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Digitally remastered two-fer containing a pair of albums from Fela Kuti's influential back catalog. Upside Down was written by Fela to portray a worldly travelled African, who searches the dictionary and finds the definition of upside down - a perfect description of the African situation. The album features Sandra who stood by Fela and introduced him to the Black Panthers during his time in the United States. Music Of Many Colours is a collaboration between Fela and African American vibraphone player Roy Ayers. They decided to do an album together after Fela's 1979 tour of Nigeria in which Roy was the opening act.

These albums provide answers to the question, "What would Fela Kuti's band sound like with someone else singing?" The title track of 1976's Up Side Down was written for the voice of Sandra Isodore, the woman who had introduced Fela to the Black Panthers seven years before. It's one of his greatest songs, a slinky 15-minute funk jam with an irresistible riff and a sly lyric about Pan-African disorganization. Fela coupled it with a remake of his earlier "Go Slow," a low-grooving complaint about traffic jams in Lagos. Music of Many Colours is a 1980 collaboration between Fela and American vibraphonist Roy Ayers, who wrote and sings the jazzy "2000 Blacks Got to Be Free," a vision of a black-unity future that's the closest Africa 70 ever came to making a disco record. Its companion piece, Fela's "Africa Centre of the World," is more straightforward midtempo Afro-beat, with multiple percussionists pattering against Ayers's chiming, improvisational vibes.

wantitall.co.za


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Upside Down (1976)

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. Upside Down was written by Fela to portray a worldly travelled African, who searches the dictionary, and finds the definition of upside down—a perfect description of the African situation. ‘I have travelled widely all over the world like any professor…’ Fela makes Sandra sing: “The thing I have seen I will like to talk about upside-up and downside-down, in overseas! Everything is organise. Their system organise! They have their own names!” But back home in Africa, everything is: ‘head for down yanish for up! Everything is disorganise!’. Meaning back home, everything is totally disorganized—Upside Down

"Go slow" is about the crawling Lagos traffic jam that symbolizes the confusion that reigns in Nigeria. Fela compares the traffic situation with a person in jail. He says: ‘you have to be a man in life!’. That is a natural instinct in man but when caught in Lagos traffic, all your aspirations and confidence as a man will wither away. You feel suddenly incapacitated, like a man in jail. Or how would you feel driving on a Lagos road and suddenly, in your front there is a lorry to your left a taxi cab, all vehicles in a standstill. Also to your right, a tipper truck and behind you a ‘molues’ passenger bus and above you a helicopter flying. To complete the picture of you imprisoned on the Lagos highway.


Written by Mabinuori Kayode Idowu




Tracklist

1. Upside Down
2. Go Slow


Music of Many Colours (1980)

2000 Blacks Got To Be Free:
Is a musical collaboration between the African American vibraphone player Roy Ayers and Fela. After a three week tour of Nigeria’s major cities in 1979, where he performed as the opening act for Fela’s band, the two artists decided to do a joint album as a round-up to the tour. The result, an album titled: ‘MUSIC OF MANY COLOURS’. On the A side Fela’s Africa Centre of the World, and on the B Side Roy Ayers: 2000 Blacks Got To Be Free. In this song Roy says he has, like many other black men, a vision coupled with a dream that says: ‘…by the year 2000 comes around, Africa would be united and free’. He hopes, or better he knows that everybody in Africa and the Diaspora will be knowledgeable about Africa. That by the time year 2000 rolls around, we will all have our minds together—2000 Black Got To Be Free is the message from Roy Ayers, that black people should unite by the time year 2000 comes.

Africa Centre Of The World
Africa Centre Of The World is Fela’s contribution to the joint album from him and Roy Ayers called: Music Of Many Colours. It is a song about Africa, the cradle of today’s civilization. Recorded twenty-one years after he left Nigerian shores to study music at London Trinity College Of Music. According to Fela in this song, the ignorance of the Western world at this time was still very much evident. Englishmen, who were not aware of the ape-like origin of man, used to come-over to him to find-out if he got a tail like apes and monkeys. For him, it is only ignorance that could be the reason for such dumb questions. He points to Africa’s place at the centre of the world map, as not by accident, rather because we were the first people on earth, adding that territory has been man’s major reason for going to war. If Africans occupy the best area in the world, this is not by accident. Africans must have been the strongest people to occupy the centre of the world.

Written by Mabinuori Kayode Idowu



Tracklist

1. 2,000 Blacks Got to Be Free
2. Africa, Center of the World

Femi Kuti - GALORE interview magazine

This interview was orginally published in the unfortunately not-existing anymore German interview magazine GALORE in the print paper edition Vol. 4 (2004).

Due to the technically-supported translation of the orginal German texts I already give an excuse for any misunderstandings or small mistakes but somehow I think the interview is still interesting to read.



The interview

"Traditions are not meant to eliminate the thinking."

09.11.2004, Backstage in Munich Muffathalle:
Femi Kuti, sprawls on a wooden chair in one hand and a burnt joint, the other around playfully on the valves of a trumpet.

Mr. Kuti, your texts are by African standards, unusually liberal and politically provocative ...

He who does not talk about politics, which is expressed. You are a political being, once you are born.

You mean you can not do anything else?

I feel there is a continuity in me: the political opposition in Nigeria started with my family. Even my grandparents fought in the fifties against the widespread abuses in their city, the protests over the whole of Nigeria. We were regarded as enemies of the state: I remember that the car in which I drove with my father was shot by soldiers. Later, soldiers have fallen in a raid my grandmother out of the window. I just came home from school, because I saw the uniformed men to besiege the house: I immediately ran to school to pick up my sister and my mother to get to safety. When I returned, the house was burned down, my grandmother died my father then carried her body to go before the presidential palace. We are all often come to prison, simply because we belonged to his family. The charges were all far-fetched.

Your father Fela Kuti was imported after a stay in America the end of the sixties, the ideas of Black Power movement in Africa.

If there are any human rights movement in Nigeria, it is because of my father. It's been nearly beaten to death for it dozens of times. For ten years he has to fend for themselves fighting the military regime, even before his brother went into politics, before anyone else was brave enough, to stand against the dictators. No one could dissuade him from this course - no prison, no torture.

If there are any human rights movement in Nigeria, it is because of my father. No one could dissuade him from this course - no prison, no torture.

Has something changed since then in your home for good?

Very little. We are the sixth largest oil producer in the world, but in Lagos have neither electricity nor running water. How can you deny these problems easily? Your life is constantly in Nigeria in danger, you want to move forward somehow, but not even get the simplest of tools found who would be needed. We vegetate like animals and it hurts my pride to see it. That is what my music.

Still, you live in Lagos and not about how many of your African colleagues in London, Los Angeles or Paris.

The frustration can kill you in Africa, but there are an invisible force that holds together all things. Our education is based on the death. Life means nothing to have understood the Africans. Everyone dies, and the worms will eat him. There remains only a short life span, to achieve something. How could I let this situation in my country men in the lurch?

To win and despite the prospect of personal security in the West and millions of dollars?

Me holding the tradition of my family. But I also understand all the Africans who remain in the West. The homesick, but will only return when they can expect a minimum of security. I can never sleep well on tour, when I think of my wife and my son at home.

They rely on the inheritance of your father, Fela Kuti. But when they formed their own band for the first time, he cast them for years.

As his son I've been through hard times. Now I am a man and can decide: Do I like so many women like my father? I love sex, I love women. But I do not think I will stop me from playing music through sex. Because we are different people.

Today the life of your father, his many wives, the company he often romanticized Kalakuta Republic retroactively.

My father was a true African. He had 27 wives. He talked openly about sex, as happened earlier African in every household. Only religion has disrupted our relationship to sex. Since the predominance of Christians and Muslims in Nigeria today, no one talks openly about his genitals. Everyone is afraid of it. My father, however, has presented his views in a very uninhibited way of expression. Meanwhile, I've been thinking a lot about him: His lifestyle was part of his dream. If he had not raised it again and again, he would have run away after the first beating. Every part of his body was broken, bruised, beaten bloody. Then he had to enjoy all things excessively. If he had relieved his pain rather than by smoking tons of marijuana - he would not have escaped alive. I will not criticize my father why.

He was revered in his lifetime by many fans as a deity.

Because he has led the lives of 500 men. Many would give anything to make music like him all the time, eat and have sex just to have to call only if you need anything. What more could you want? He was a king.

So is it correct to portray your father as a macho hero and woman?

I must explain to the people of Europe, our culture, otherwise they do not understand: Why does a man have so many women? This has certainly nothing to do with the fact that the Africans do not respect his wife. In Nigeria, in reality the woman is in charge. Just one example from my parents' house: The mother looks out for the son's wife or the girl with whom he goes. When he brings home the wrong thing, they send them away again.

Can you live with such traditions?

I have a wife, not 27 like my father. And that's enough for me completely. We have a son, whom we love very much. My African brothers always wonder, How can you have only one child? What if it dies? It belongs to the African culture, many have children, because they ensure our future. We believe that we continue to live in them. But I'm happy with my son. I have enough intelligence to decide about my own affairs. Traditions are there to take the best of them, not to abolish the thinking.

Their songs provoke the establishment of your home. Nevertheless, or perhaps because you are selling millions of cassettes in Nigeria alone.

The radios have not made me big, I play in either Nigeria or other African dictatorships. Ordinary people rush to buy my tapes and in my concerts - because they believe in me more than the politicians. The older ones have abused their positions. So the boys no longer have respect for them.

They contribute to the African stage costumes, the songs in your request Reafrikanisierung of Christian names and country names. Because you are not in opposition to the global African urban youth?

The problem in my home is the self-denial of our culture. We forget our traditional medicine, religion, music. If we have about two shoes to choose from, an African and a Western, then we have been taught to choose the Western product as the supposedly better. Similarly with music: gangsta rap emerged as it did the young people in Lagos imitate their U.S. models. Everyone said motherfucker, bitch. Everyone suddenly felt his disputes with guns have to unsubscribe. And then surprised everyone. The entertainment industry is the worst part of America and imported it to Nigeria.

You see an alternative?

I will not accept that we are wasting all our talent in Africa. I am speaking, not even the music, after all, it is still considered a disgrace if one knows nothing about Africans. But we have also historians, economists and engineers. Why can not we develop our own technology? Why we do not develop research centers for traditional African medicine? Show times but only after Japan and China, these countries know even the western culture, but have their own still far from being abandoned. Why should we throw away our most valuable simple?

What has the African culture of the western advance?

If you have a child in Africa, for example, to worry your mother, sisters, brothers, cousins ​​and cousins ​​of it. In Western society, but must do it for strangers to child care. No wonder, when you repeatedly hear of cases of child abuse. Unfortunately, this problem is now well advanced in the big African cities. We have imported the Western lifestyle. Another example: You can be in Africa never really burned because there is always someone to help you out of trouble. If you're broke in the West, then you will usually nobody to the side. Your father will hunt you in a certain age, even from the house if you still do not earn their own money. Not that all this would be wrong in principle. On the other hand, we can not simply accept everything at face value.

Nigeria is the sixth largest oil producer in the world, but in Lagos have neither electricity nor running water. We vegetate like animals and it hurts my pride to see it.

Staying with music: Her father had not even mixed American jazz, soul and funk rhythms in the domestic, to do with the so-called Afro-Beat (1) a universal language?

Of course we can learn a thing or two from the West: I myself can not say that my music is pure African. Then put in there also influences from James Brown or Michael Jackson, no question. Nevertheless, I let myself be easy to identify as Africans. That American culture in Africa as widely propagated is that hardly anyone is able to escape - that's one thing. On the other hand, we must learn to accept only what we're really good, while maintaining our own style.

Does the same apply to religion?

You have given us the Bible and took our gold. Now the Africans say that God cares for us - although religiously motivated conflicts are one of Africa's greatest problems. We are fighting us because of a religion that does not come from our ancestors. The Whites have called us pagans, but obviously they have learned much of their knowledge of their God from us. Jesus and Moses were in Africa. The great Africans of ancient Egypt were also black. This is all well documented - and yet it is not taught in African schools. I've learned as an adult from books and from my father. There's still a lot of power in African spiritual traditions. My father has expressed this power in his music and his life.

All Fela Kuti albums have just been re-released. Afrobeat pioneers like Tony Allen, the former drummer of your father's experience, making a comeback, and the famous techno and house DJs to remix your songs - you understand that?

I have always expected. Miles Davis said in his autobiography, will be the Afrobeat music of the future. Meanwhile, I also work with American hip-hop artists like Mos Def or Common, together, who know every song of my father.

His latest album "Africa Shrine" documents before his home crowd in Lagos, the unbroken live energy of Afrobeat. How often do you come to perform in your own club?

The re-opened, Shrine is' continues the tradition of the legendary club, which my father once served as a stage and altar. Whether I'm at home or on tour: Every weekend there is a live band. But for the two to three thousand visitors who hinströmen there on Saturday night, it's not just about the music. The 'Shrine' is a meeting place, one of the few places where one finds his peace in Lagos. Otherwise young people will be offered in this little metropolis - what a surprise when they slip off too easily turn to crime?

Your music publishing exclusively on European labels. An affront to their Nigerian fans?

First of all, it is of vital importance for every African musicians to sell his records in the West. The African record companies are all collapsed due to corruption, for the pirated cassette tapes on the domestic markets, we see a cent. African music is so self-evident. No one realized that they can exist only if you pay for it.

Does this mean that Western market models do not work in Africa?

Not only that, but Western state systems can not be exported. I do not believe it does not work. Democracy is based on religion as superstition. How can we determine about 51 percent of the other 49 percent?
The African record companies are all broken down, for the pirated tapes, we see a cent. African music is so self-evident. No one realized that they can exist only if you pay for it.

Which alternative do you see?

We need a government form, the feeling of all present. What we expect from life? Enough money to feed our children, medical care, schools, deserve the name, a decent education. A government that can not afford it, does not deserve the name. Why are all fighting for power? To be president, should be to be the first servant of the people - in fact it runs the other way around. We need to reclaim the African principle of the community: Before there was a decision taken had to agree to all the elders or sages. And any way representing a village or ethnic group. So had, unlike in the western democracy, the minority to say as much as the majority. Although nine million votes for anything, and only one person on the other hand: Who says this is an injustice?

That sounds now but for political utopia.

We need only recall our ancient African civilizations. If the books agree, then they were not a utopia. An African president, who takes his job seriously, should have no time for parties, receptions and tours. The problems in the country to tolerate no delay: I think for example of AIDS. In Europe, the situation has stabilized, however, AIDS in Africa explodes, entire regions are depopulated. If I were president, I would put at the forefront of my agenda.

Also, because your own father died of AIDS?

If even an educated man like my father did not believe in the existence of this disease, was obviously missed a lot to educate this generation about AIDS. They have spread in Africa to much conflicting information about the disease: about, that they would only transmitted from monkeys and homosexuals that heterosexuals would be immune. In Europe, they clarify the people for 15 years, in Africa it is only now catching on with it.

What is your contribution to the Enlightenment?

I give a concert in Africa, where I do not talk about AIDS. When I was honored in South Africa as an African artist of the year, I talked about what my father had died. In the West, to much fanfare as projects, made We Are The World ', but I'm not convinced that these millions has flowed really in the right channels. We are the world, but Africa is dying. This is the reality.

Their message to the Western audience?

People in the West take Nigerian oil - but which of them has already an idea of ​​our life circumstances? I tour for a half decades in the West and have a lot on TV about the crimes of the Nazis saw. The Germans can never sleep so hopefully calm. But who tells them of 500 years of colonial exploitation and genocide in Africa? This is dealt with two lines in the history books. Here is the story of its modern continuation: Who denounces the U.S. and European multinationals, our pump out the oil? They make a handful of rich individuals, which in turn enslave their own people. This is the second slavery.