Femi Kuti, from Lagos to London
Very few youths, usually, take after their parents in the choice of career and keep the legacy running, even after the demise of such parents. Femi Kuti belongs to this class and he keeps the memory of the Afro beat music maestro, the ‘Abami Eda’, Anikulapo-Kuti alive. NKECHI CHUKWU, who watched Femi’s recent show in London, reports
They came for entertainment, but, the audience got more than they bargained for, recently, when Femi, the torch bearer of the Afro beat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the ‘Abami Eda’, proved to a cheering crowd that he is, truly, worthy of being called ‘Wonder Wonder’ and a true representative of his late father.
The audience at the Royal Festival Hall, where the show was held on Saturday, June 11, 2016, would, probably, have gone home disappointed, but, thankfully, Femi and his 12-man Positive Force band did not only make the show memorable, it was some 90 magical minutes of Afrobeat at its best.
Beginning with the well choreographed entry on stage by the five seasoned instrumentalists and the three exotic female dancers, the hall was, literally, set on fire, but, when Femi came in into the already charged atmosphere, like a parade commander, nobody in the audience could have guessed that the two-time Grammy Award nominee, also popularly called ‘Eleniyan’, was vomitting in Lagos and nearly called off the show a few days earlier.
“It was as if I wanted to die as at Wednesday, because I was throwing up”, he revealed, after whetting the appetite of the audience with his saxophone.
He also told the audience that he was so sickly to the point of wanting to ask his agent to call off the show altogether because he thought he was dying, “let me die in Lagos and not in Her Majesty’s country”. Afterwards, the show continued, as he declared, “Welcome to Lagos”, this is Afrobeats”. Instantly, the audience went ecstatic with applause as the show kicked off fully.
Typical of Femi, the London show was spiced with political innuendos, as he pleaded with African leaders not to mess up their people’s live because of their greed and corrupt practices.
With tunes such as “Africa for Africa, People, and Politics na big business”, Femi weaved the danceable numbers into pleas for social justice, noting that “Africa is blessed, but, regrettably, corruption dey kill us”.
He also used the lyrics to alert that because “the world is facing recession, many people are (now) dying”. Moreover, he pointed to the fact that “the world is changing”, because “poverty is winning again, in many countries”.
The audience was appreciative of how Femi and his Positive Force crew preached his political messages through melodious Afro beats, thus, giving them more than their money’s worth.
From the instrumentalists to the energetic dancing trio, that caused all eyes to be glued on their sexy body moves on stage, to the commander-in-chief of the band himself, you couldn’t excuse yourself to use the bathroom.
Never relenting in coming down hard on African leaders, as Femi says “our leaders should be called stealers and we should remember (that) na our money dem dey blow”, Little wonder then, that he sang “Sorry, Sorry o, Sorry for Nigeria, Sorry for Africa”.
Of course, that is what you expect, be it at the spiritual home of the band at the Shrine in Lagos, or on a roadshow like this. But, apart from his politically charged lyrics of Afrobeats, he also treated the audience to philosophically jazz numbers, especially, when he did two from his forthcoming album. “Our lives in this life move very fast,” was one of those, and this too was beautifully performed with the crew on stage.
By the time he closed the show, with Water, e no get enemy, about half of the audience refused to leave the hall, many knew he had finished with the night’s performance, because Femi spiced the song with loads of “thank you, thank you”, as he danced off the stage.
The audience, would, however, not let go as they asked for more, like the fabled Oliver Twist, little wonder then that he obliged and returned to a thunderous applause and then did one final number before, finally, leaving the stage.
