Before an immersive exhibition at the Paris Philharmonic opened on Thursday, the son of Afrobeat musician Fela Kuti spoke of his father’s courage in using “music as a weapon.”
“His only option was to pick up a gun, but he chose music instead. It served as a weapon against the establishment, colonialism, and corrupt African regimes “Femi Kuti, 60, a tremendously accomplished musician himself, remarked.
By emulating the ambiance of Fela Kuti’s sweaty, politically charged nightclub in Nigeria, The Shrine, which became a mecca for international performers like Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney in the 1970s, the Paris Philharmonic is paying tribute to Fela Kuti.
Although Kuti passed away in 1997 from AIDS-related problems, his groundbreaking work is still powerful today. Today’s celebrities like Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beyonce, and Jay-Z, who sampled his smash song “Zombie” on “Homecoming Live,” frequently mention it.
“Not surprisingly, Great individuals like Miles Davis have already discussed Fela, “Femi Kuti commented on his father’s enduring appeal. Hip-foundational hop’s component, where it received its flavor, was afrobeat.
Fela’s politics have also remained potent.
According to Alexandre Girard-Muscagorry, one of the curators of the immersive show, “the Black Lives Matter movement developed at the same time we started working on this exhibition project, and Fela’s struggle in the 1970s and 1980s had resonance there.”
The Nigerian military rulers persecuted Kuti for the most of his adult life due to his unrelenting criticism of their violent misgovernance and corruption.
When he decided not to participate in an official music festival in 1977 and organized a rival event that attracted international celebrities like Stevie Wonder, there was a particularly nasty backlash.
– ‘Out of Africa’ –
In response to his counter-festival, soldiers burned down his house and forced his mother out of a first-floor window, injuring her and causing her death a year later, according singer Femi Kuti.
Femi Kuti said of the man, “He was a voice for the voiceless, the only opponent who was brave enough to take on the hard-core military dictators at that time, and he paid a very severe price.
But in the end, it was his music’s genius, which by fusing free jazz, soul, funk, and Yoruba, created something altogether new and helped him become so well-known.
Many people, including McCartney, were motivated to travel to The Shrine in Lagos to record his album “Band on the Run.”
His son said, “Fela came out of Africa with this beautiful music that captivated everyone’s ears.
The globe, and especially France, took notice of the use of this music as a political tool and message, maybe as a result of the connection to that country’s own uprisings.
