Rita Ray

October 2004 - Black President at the Barbican, Yabis Sessions, Musicport World Music Festival

Greetings. It's time to overdose on Afrobeat, with a Fela-inspired festival and lots of hot CDs. I've been overdosing on fantastic Afrobeat and Afrobeat-inspired music, dancing away to Seun Kuti and Africa 80, Inemo's Afro funk and Kente's uplifting reggae.

• Black President at the Barbican
• Yabis Sessions
• Musicport World Music Festival
• Rita Ray's Recommended CDs

Black President at the Barbican

If you haven't made it down to the mammoth music, film and art festival, Black President: The Art and Legacy Of Fela Kuti at the Barbican in London do what ever you can to get down there. The festival goes on until the 24th of October and you can find out more at on the Barbican website .

Fela Anikolapo Kuti was a phenomenon, a controversial innovator from Nigeria who created a genre of music called Afrobeat - an explosive mix of High Life, jazz, funk and Yoruba rhythms. I'm not going to bang on about Fela because my fellow Africa on your Street host DJ Ify has written an excellent Fela profile for Africa on your Street . I also co-presented a radio feature, tracking down Fela's former musicians, wives and friends in Lagos.

What's so Africa on your Street about Fela Kuti? Well, his family has an on going relationship with the UK that spans generations, and in studying classical music at London's Trinity College he carried on that tradition. He not only toured the UK regularly, he often recorded his music in London, the first of which was Fela's London Scene (Sterns Records). His younger son Seun has been studying in Liverpool and just graduated from Liverpool's School Of Performance Arts - more about Seun in a bit.

The Festival revolves around the Black President: The Art and Legacy Of Fela Kuti art exhibition (check out our wonderful photogallery here , films, talks and a stunning music program with concerts performances by Roy Ayres with the Africa Jazz All Stars, Manu Dibango with Baaba Maal and Courtney Pine -  and both, yes both, of Fela's sons.

You've all heard of the award-winning oldest son Femi Kuti, but this will probably be the first you'll have heard of Seun, who leads Fela's last band, Africa 80. I'm really looking forward to watching his funky old drummer - Tony Allen performing with Keziah Jones, TY and Damon Albarn.  And the finale 'Red Hot & Riot Live' has to be a must. It's a live recreation of the ground-breaking album that the Red Host Organisation made to raise money to fight AIDS in Africa, featuring artists like Cheikh Lo, Femi Kuti, Dead Prez and more - if you've heard the album you know you know you need to be there.

The Black President Festival also takes place at The Shrine at Cargo, with Femm Nameless, the all female Afrobeat band from New York on the 8th of October and Yerba Buena Nu-school Latin-based Afrobeat. The Shrine will also take place on the Barbican club stage and the Synchro System performs on the  9th with Shingai Shoniwa, B.R.E.I.S., sax ace Tony Kofi and Byron Wallen on trumpet

Yabis Sessions

The Festival kicked off with the free 'Yabis Sessions' on the Barbican free stage. Yabis is Yoruba and means abusive joking. Friday nights at Fela's Afrika Shrine was Yabis time, when Fela would take to the stage and lampoon, lambaste and take on the Nigerian Government, society, greedy corporations, people in the audience... and the audience joined in, giving their opinion and answering back.

The Black President's Yabis Sessions are about getting into the spirit of those nights with poets, agitators, comedians, and activists. Sandra Isadore, the Black Panther who turned Fela on to his Black consciousness and recorded Upside Down with him, is on the bill as is the sharp-witted comedian Wale Gates and Bro Niyi, an inspirational Nigerian-born politicized performance poet/percussionist.

The music featured at the Yabis Sessions samples Afrobeat bands from around the world along with the cream of UK-based musicians, all of whom one way or another have a link to Fela Anikolapo Kuti and have been taking their vision of Afrobeat into the 21st century. And what an exciting and diverse range of musicians! There's the dazzling hip hop infused styles of the dynamite rapper Weird MC, the urban griot B.R.E.I.S., then there is JJC & 419 Squad who tell it like it is and make you laugh aloud. Funsho Ogundipe and his group Ayetoro explore the Jazz side, while Dele Sosimi, once Fela's keyboard player and MD for Femi's band uses Jazz as the starting point for his brand of Afrobeat.

I really enjoyed the first weekend; all the bands were smoking, with the UK-based Africa Jazz all stars (everyone of them a band leader) making a joyful noise, as did Dele Sosimi and his band. But if I have to choose then it has to be Nana Tsiboe and his Super Hi Life Band who rocked us with the wonderful harmonies and irresistible dance rhythms of Ghanaian Hi Life - one of the cornerstones of Afrobeat.

If you can't get to the festival you can catch the Afrobeat fever in the comfort of your own home with some fantastic Afrobeat CD compilations taking in classic Fela and a dazzling array of the artists he spawned.

Musicport World Music Festival

The Music Port Festival in Whitby starts on the 22nd of October and has a fantastic lineup with a focus on Africa on the 23rd a great chance to see Guinea's Mory Kante, Zimbabwe's Black Umfolosi, Mozambique's Mabulu and host of other African artists in one place. Top UK-based artists include Congolese bandleader Robert Maseko and Malagasy guitarist Modeste. I'll be there doing a DJ set, my fellow host Yve Ngoo will be over from Newcastle for the weekend, and Dorcas from the Africa on your Street team will be reporting so we'll keep you posted. And do leave your comments about anything you see or hear!

Rita

Rita Ray's Recommended CDs

Various Artists - Afrobeat Sessions

Fela Kuti - Best of/ Music is the Weapon

Various Artists - Red Hot & Riot

Essential Afrobeat - The Very Best Of Afrobeat (3CD mix)

Check out my recommended CDs this month in the CD Reviews section or go to Music Search to look at our archive of recommended CDs.