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Fela Anikulapo Kuti (1938-1997) was a Nigerian colossus, a prolific singer-composer who played keyboards, trumpet and saxophone. Like so many men of the people, he was the well-educated son of a middle-class family, although one famous for its revolutionary iconoclasts. He was repeatedly harassed and jailed due to his outspoken political views and a pan-African philosophy that began with Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah and Malcolm X and hit the ground running. After years of experimentation, Fela hit upon what he called Afro-beat, a seductive, explosive groove wherein highlife and Yoruba folklore were fused with American jazz, R&B and funk, then capped by confrontational pigeon lyrics. Performed by a huge troupe of musicians, more than twenty female back-up singers and/or dancers (many of whom were also Fela¹s wives and were literally barefoot and pregnant) and fronted by the face-painted, spliff-puffing bandleader¹s priapic, larger-than-life presence, Fela¹s tunes were often extended epics that never seemed long enough. By the time of his death from an AIDS-related illness, he had recorded more than 70 albums, toured the world and transformed African music for all time. Every opus collected on this double-CD set ideally exemplifies a crucial facet of the phenomenon, although not everyone will agree with the producer¹s choices (or omissions.) The accompanying DVD of the seminal documentary, Music Is The Weapon, is a revelatory must-have; it overflows with fervent live performances, frank interviews and exudes genuine Lagos street cred, circa 1982. --Christina Roden
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