Kuti, Fela - Coffin For Head of State / Unknown Soldier CD (Mega Blowout Sale)
SKU
23-KFR 1021
This is two late 70s (1977 and 1979) recordings by the best band Fela ever had, recorded during his best period.
Every music collection needs at least one Fela release. Period.
“Coffin For Head of State’ is among Fela’s most courageous responses to the Nigerian army’s destruction of Kalakuta on 18 February 1977. During the attack, Fela’s mother, aged 78, a veteran of Nigeria’s struggle for independence from British colonial rule and an early campaigner for Nigerian women’s rights, was thrown out of an upstairs window, fracturing a leg. Fela believed that the assault led to his mother’s death 14 months later.”
"There were three great beats in the 70 s: Fela Kuti s Afrobeat, James Brown’s Funk, and Klaus Dinger's NEU!"-Brian Eno
And if you aren't familiar with him: Fela was one of *the* most important musicians from Africa. From Nigeria, he pioneered a hypnotic, early form of Afro-beat in the 70's that used driving percussion, jazz influences, funk influences from James Brown and hypnotic and interlocking rhythms and musical figures performed by a huge band, all behind very pointed & often politicized lyrics.
He was a human rights revolutionary who started his own political party, Movement Of The People, to protest the kleptocracy in Nigeria. He had his own compound called the Kalakuta Republic in Lagos, which he declared independent from Nigeria, where he and his uncountable number of wives lived and they were constantly harassed by the government.
He was insanely popular in his homeland and his music raised the ire of the government who attacked his compound, fatally injuring his mother (see above) and leading to his many arrests. He died in 1997.
I'm proud to say that I was aware of his work early enough to have seen him twice in the mid 80s (I had a ticket for a third appearance but he didn’t show because ... he was in JAIL in Africa) and he was always amazing, even though I saw a later version of the band who weren't as good as they are here!
As Robert Wyatt said once, "Fela is my favorite arranger. He's only got one arrangement, but it's so good, it doesn't matter."