Although he usually performed barefoot
(and covered in little more than sweat and face paint), when Fela Kuti
died in 1997, he left behind massive shoes to fill. For 30 years, the
Nigerian bandleader reigned over the genre of Afrobeat, a brand of
Africanized funk he invented and controlled so masterfully no one even
attempted to step up as a potential successor. It ultimately fell to
Felaâs youngest son, Seun, who was only 14 years old at the time of his
fatherâs death, to pick up the torch. In contrast to the music of his
older brother Femi, who began blending their dadâs horn-drenched
polyrhythms with elements of hip-hop in the late â80s, Seun (pronounced
âShay-oonâ) adheres to the traditional sound of Afrobeat, to the point
that last yearâs magnificent From Africa with Fury: Rise,
produced by Brian Eno and featuring members of Fela Kutiâs band Egypt
80, could be a lost Fela album from the 1970s. But, as Seun explained
over a shaky phone connection from Nigeria, his devotion to the style is
less out of obligation to the family legacy than to following his own
political consciousness.
Seun Kuti: "For me, it's not about
tradition. Afrobeat has to be the heaviest sound around today, just
because we're not talking about selfish things like clothes and cars.
We're talking about the real things of life. In the '60s and '70s, music
was independent. Music was radical. Everybody was singing about change
and progressiveness. It's not like today. The corporations bought all
the music, and now they use the music to sell their Champagne and their
cars and their good life. Music has to talk about the majority of the
people. Everybody in the world cannot afford the lifestyle mainstream
music is portraying. If music is not for the people, it's not real
music."
SEE IT: Seun Kuti & Egypt 80
play the Mt. Tabor Theater, 4811 SE Hawthorne Blvd., on Saturday, March
17, with Afromassive. 8 pm. $20. 21+.
WWeek 2015
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