FEMI KUTI SUPPORT FUJI STAR, SULE ALAO MALAIKA TO SUCCEED WASIU AYINDE FOR HIS GOOD PERFORMANCE AT FELABRTION.
“Malaika
is a good artiste no doubt about that fact. He has been supporting
Felabration even without money. As an artiste, you should not always
think of money every time. Malaika has been there for us every year.
His performances are brilliant. I believe he will be K1’s successor in
Fuji Music”, Femi said, while performing with Malaika on the stage.
It was the first time Femi Kuti and
Malaika would perform at Felebration. During the event, the Afrobeat
star suddenly came from backstage to join Malaika on stage with his
saxophone. His skills amazed the audience as they asked for more.
“I was very surprised when I saw Femi Kuti
on the stage with me. I appreciate that a lot. It goes a long way in my
memory as a Fuji musician. That tells you as an artiste you are on the
right track”, Malaika said after his performance. He has always been
part of Felabration every year.
Despite
the Ebola scare which threatened a cancellation, the annual festival to
honour Fela’s memory recorded another resounding success.
The stakes continue to go higher in the
annual festival – Felabration – conceived to keep the memory of iconic
musician, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, alive. Arguably the only anniversary in
Nigeria that runs a loaded eight-day package at multiple venues, the
throng of revelers continue to multiply even as more participants and
specialized features are added to the fare.
In its
17th edition, Felabration 2014 was particularly challenging to its team
of organisers led by distinguished architect, Theo Lawson. The scourge
of the Ebola Virus Disease that hit the country led to the cancellation
of the schools debate – an important intellectual component – that could
not be realized because the school calendar across the country was
moderated. An apparent possibility that stared the organisers in the
face was whether to cancel the entire celebration. Many sponsors
developed cold feet, not sure if to go ahead or not.
As signs emerged that the disease was being kept in check, the Felabration committee continued its work.
This year, the celebration opened with an
unexpected item – a documentary movie – apparently bankrolled from the
source that championed FELA! The Broadway Show. The film made a one-stop
at the New Afrikan Shrine to kick off the celebration last Sunday and
even though Yeni, Fela’s eldest child, made public the reservation of
the owners of the film about her insistence to keep the gate fee at
N500; to keep faith with the commons who idolise Fela. They turned out
in large number to see the film-Finding Fela.
The film was not the only novelty this
year. A group of students from the University of Lagos led by one of
their teachers made a special presentation. They staged the play, Fela:
Son of Kuti, at the Freedom Park, one of the venues for Felabration
which usually takes on a life of its own. Freedom Park was a beehive
during the Felabration week. With its distinct programme including a
Fela Dance, Out dance contest, in which the winners won a N30,000 cash
prize and a promise from Lawson to take them on a global contest next
year in a Caribbean nation. Over the years, Freedom Park has remained
home for reggae musicians. Anchored by Raheem Agoro, a special night for
reggae music buffs has become one of the mainstays of the Felabration
week at Freedom Park. More and more a connection is being established
between reagge music and afrobeat. In the history of Felabration there
have been more reggae musicians taking centre-stage as headline
artistes.
Last year,
it was Bob Marley’s son, Kymani. In 2014, another reggae great, Don
Carlos, was the centre of attraction. Highlife music also has a day
dedicated to it at Freedom Park. This year, there were troupes from
Ghana and Benin Republic. Incidentally, Felabration coincided with Ade
Bantu’s monthly gig, Afropolitan Vibes, which takes place at the Freedom
Park on the Third Friday of the month. This edition featured highlife
trumpeter, Etubom Rex William. Blind and in a wheel chair, William gave
an amazing performance that was very much appreciated by the crowd.
Throughout the Felabration week, Bola Browne, a DJ, made a good job of
keeping the Fela spirit alive with a variety of music from artistes from
all over the world who have interpreted a Fela song in their own way.
On some of those nights, when the curtained closed at the Freedom Park,
fans moved to the New Afrikan to continue the merrymaking.
A measure of this total commitment to the
Fela heritage was on the night of Friday, October 18. It was a rainy
night. There were two large screen monitors, showing what was happening
on stage inside the Shrine, but the fans stood in the rain on a queue
that stretched over 1000 metres, waiting for an opportunity to enter a
Shrine that was already jam-packed with no room to stand. The crowd
could only be compared to teeming number that visit popular worship
places like the RCCG Camp. This crowd too is attracted to a deity. They
come to Felabration to worship the Nigerian god of music!
Going by the increasing number of
enthusiastic participants at Felabration, the organisers must start
scouting for venue, to move the main concert away from the New Afrikan
Shrine (NAS). The NAS has simply become the destination for the number
of people willing to take part at Felabration. It is a mystery that so
far no untoward incident has been recorded. One of the reasons for this
being that the Shrine is not a completely sealed enclosure. Its side
walls are not built to the ceiling, leaving ample space for ventilation.
The organizing committee must be commended
for giving premium attention to security. Even though cars were parked
far away in the adjoining streets, the ‘Shrine Police’ covered the
entire area, keeping an eagle eye on vehicles and keeping trouble makers
at bay. Their efforts were complemented by teams from Nigeria Police
and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps.
The Felabration Week is normally awaited
with a lot of positive expectation by traders of sundry wares. Producers
of memorabilia like badges, caps, scarfs and T-shirts, books, DVDs and
CDs, particularly those that bear Fela’s images can be found inside the
Shrine and in the neighbourhood. Food and drink vendors struggle for
space with vehicles, completely lining both sides of the NERDC Road
where the Shrine is located.
But Felabration is not all about
merriment, there is a veritable intellectual content promoted through
the Fela Debates and the secondary school debates. The 2014 Fela Debates
held at NECA House, a walking distance from the NAS, under the
chairmanship of Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili. The issue on focus was ‘The
Amalgamation of the Peoples of Niger Area’. One of the advertised
speakers, Mallam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai, could not make it. But the debate
was no less stimulating with Professor Sophie Oluwole and Emeka Keazor
as speakers. In the beginning, the debate was billed to feature the
British Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria. Unfortunately, he died at
the Lagos airport before the event.
The Kalakuta Museum (Fela’s former
residence) was busy during the Felabration week with a photo exhibition
by Photo Journalist, Femi Akintobi, titled, ‘Fela’s Courage in Troubled
Times’. The exhibits were largely a pictorial chronicle of aftermath of
the confrontation between Fela and soldiers that led to the burning of
his house. Another exhibition at Kalakuta captured Fela’s dress sense.
There were also some activities dedicated to Felabration at Terra
Kulture, Victoria Island and National Museum, Onikan in Lagos.
Every year, Felabration offers a platform
to upcoming and established artistes who believe that once they can get a
mark of appreciation from the critical crowd at the Shrine, they have a
good thing going. The performances started on Monday, October 13 and
continued every night till the last day, Sunday, October 19.
This year, part of the Shrine was wearing a
fresh coat of paint. And for the last day, a fee of N1,000 was charged
for entry. The show opened with the Gangbe Brass Band from Benin
Republic. Their trump card was the giant trombone on which the name of
the band was written. Some of their percussion instruments were
recognizable to the Nigerian crowd, particularly the talking drum. The
band was made of the horn and percussion sections. On their first track,
Femi Kuti joined them, blowing on his saxophone. Then came the SP
Acrobatics who blew the crowd away with amazing contortions and
maneuvers. A string of upcoming artistes including Mischief, Ahidjo and
Felatimo took the stage. Eda Otan who is building a growing followership
presented his craft which is a blend of fast tempo Afro rock.
One of the major sponsors, producers of
Best liquer, put together a group that provided comic relief with their
blend of dance, comedy and music. Adeniji the Heavywind is not new to
the major concerts and he did not disappoint. Orezi could not have had
anything less than the kind of rousing reception he got, afterall his
hit song, ‘Shoki’ (which is one of Femi Kuti’s nicknames) was inspired
on a visit to the Shrine. It was good to see Styl Plus. Their
performance with Femi’s Positive Force Band sparked memories with songs
like ‘Imagine That’ and ‘Olufunmi’. Weird Mc simply outdid herself. A
little bit on the plumb side but she was full of energy, jumping and
controlling the crowd.
Of all the surprises of the closing night,
the appearance of Isla Kauche, better known as Bob Fe (real name
Olumide Bamgboye) had many reeling back in shock. Not sure of what to
expect, he got a cautious reception, but his insistence to performance
with Femi’s band did the magic. The Positive Force Band made a good job
of covering the cracks in his performance and he ended his one-song show
with a pass mark.
Harrysong hit the stage with his reigning
song, ‘Fine Girl’. Of course the corwd latched on to it. But there was
no time before he brought on his friend, Kcee the Limpopo master, who is
in a giving mood wherever he performs these days. Courtesy, one
teenage, Hafiz who had earlier won some cash from Orezi went home with
USD1,300.
To herald the coming of main act for the
night, I Man (Raymond Moses) came on stage to sing a few songs. He left
the stage after condemning use of hard drugs and cigarette. But he
praised the Nigerian ganja to high heavens. In between the change of
artistes, DJ Stan kept the crowd alive with hot sounds.
Sixty-two year old Don Carlos whose facial
hair has turned grey mounted the stage in a black jacket with red
stripes. On his neck was a muffler in Rastafarian colours of red, gold
and green. Well into his second, he took off the jacket to reveal a
black shirt crested with musical notes. He paused to pay tribute to Fela
who he described as a true African champion and Afrobeat king. He said
reggae and Afrobeat have a mutual link emphasized by the prevalence of
drums.
Describing Nigerians as his biggest fans,
Carlos recalled that he sued to get a box load of mails from Nigeria in
the 1980s. He apologized for not coming with his band, saying that he
had wanted to come to Nigeria for a long time. In a 40-minute
performance with Femi’s Positive Force Band, he endeared himself to the
crowd when he did a fusion of reggae and Afrobeat. While doing a reggae
vocal, the horn section of the band delivered Fela’s ‘Army Arrangement’.
He left the stage singing, ‘Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’.
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