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Recent Reviews
Seun KutiEgypt 80 Seun Kuti + Fela's Egypt 80 Mr. Bongo Recordings, 2008
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I’ve been listening to the long-awaited debut recording of Fela Kuti’s youngest son for a few months now, and the experience keeps getting better. Sure, Seun (25) shares his father’s lanky physique, gruff vocal authority, and jaundiced attitude towards politicians. More importantly, he actually fronts Fela’s old band, Egypt 80. But while all that promises an engaging live show—which I have now seen three times in just over a year—it in no way guarantees the young man can come up with a solid record. Seun had crucial support here from veteran producer Martin Meissonnier, who once helped both Fela and King Sunny Ade capture their big band sounds on vinyl and has done so again admirably here. But the great credit goes to Seun himself, for having the vision and temerity to keep his father’s musicians together and work with them, despite the generational divide, for coming up with such a fine set of songs, and for wisely waiting ten years to produce this album, making sure that it would not disappoint.

Things kick off with the playful “Many Things.” The mixed-in voice of former Nigerian president Obasanjo (a notorious Fela foe) signals a contemporary, techy element that surfaces elsewhere. But the sound is pure Afrobeat, from the august, expansive brass section passages, the cool, clarion trumpet solo, and the drop down to a sizzle at around three minutes to make room for Seun’s leisurely vocal entry. The song’s refrain is actually catchier refrain than many of Fela’s, but the sentiments—“no food to eat... no water to drink... nowhere to stay” some of the “many things” Seun does not find in the Nigeria Obasanjo left behind—come straight from the Fela playbook.

It is not that these seven songs are earth-shaking or brilliant, or that they press the limits of public discourse to the breaking point, as Fela did. The album works because it finds the sweet spot between conformity and mindless tribute. It delivers the essence of Fela’s rootsy band formula—at once relaxed and majestic—without ever feeling like mere mimicry. The herky-jerky “Na Oil” delivers the album’s most lashing and breathless groove, fitting given the cruel ravages of the Nigerian oil industry, its subject. “Don’t Give That Sh** to Me” settles into a more subtle funk-stream with drummer Ajayi Raimi Adebiyi pretty much nailing the elusive, shuffling polyrhytms that afrobeat guru Tony Allen summoned from the heavens some years back. “Fire Dance” nods vaguely to Nigeria’s popular hip hop aesthetic; the song is more of a vamp with ambiance and chanting than a full-on song, but it breaks the mold and so helps the album cohere.

On the final song, “African Problems,” Seun growls and raps in response to the female backing singers. You wouldn’t call any of the Kutis technically great singers. Their strength lies in the projection of personality and attitude, and Seun manages that with beguiling ease. With this album, it’s official. The funkiest big band in Africa is alive and well with a confident, energetic, talented and charismatic young leader, and both afrobeat and Afropop as a whole are better for it.

Contributed by Banning Eyre for www.afropop.org