BY STEVEN SAWADA
Femi Kuti
w/ Daara J
8 pm, Thursday,
July 28, 18+
The Jungle,
$20 adv/
$22 door
www.eugenejungle.com
The Son of Afrobeat
Femi Kuti and Daara J brings the beats to town.
I
t is difficult for any man to live in the
shadow of his father. But when your
father is Fela Anikulapo Kuti, and
when his legacy is the entire politico-
music movement known as Afrobeat, ful-
filling any filial expectations the world
music community may have (not to men-
tion the expectations of the Nigerian peo-
ple) seems wholly impossible.
Some would say Femi Kuti, the eldest
son of Fela, assumed this burden in 1997
upon his father’s death from AIDS-related
complications. However, Femi understood
and accepted his father’s legacy long before
his death. Born in London but raised under
the oppressive rule of Nigeria’s corrupt gov-
ernment, Femi’s induction into Afrobeat
began at a very young age.
Femi witnessed his father’s musical
tirades against the Nigerian government
first hand. Afrobeat’s fusion of Western
musical styles such as funk and jazz blend-
ed with traditional West African music pro-
vided an excellent base for Fela’s political
commentary. But his stance against the
government had its price. Fela routinely
faced false imprisonment, phony criminal
charges and brutal violence. All of this,
coupled with the impoverished conditions
in Lagos, inspired Femi to drop out of
school in 1978 and pick up the alto saxo-
phone as a member of his father’s band
Egypt 80.
Then in 1985, as the audience at the
Hollywood Bowl eagerly awaited the appear-
ance of Fela and Egypt 80, Femi instead
walked on stage to lead his father’s band.
Arrested at the Lagos airport on concocted
fraud charges, Fela failed to board the U.S.-
bound plane. In his father’s absence, Femi
stepped up and delivered a performance that
brought the U.S. audience members to their
feet. A year later, he split off from Egypt 80
and, with two of his sisters, formed his own
band, Positive Force.
After his father’s death, Femi continued
to champion Afrobeat and landed a record-
ing contract with MCA that resulted in two
albums: Shoki Shoki and the critically
acclaimed 2001 release Fight to Win (which
also featured Common and Mos Def).
Femi makes his Eugene debut in support
of a greatest hits release entitled The Best of
Femi Kuti. He also just released the DVD
Live at the Shrine. The disc features Femi
and Positive Force live in Lagos at the
Africa Shrine, an incarnation of the leg-
endary Shrine nightclub, the music venue
originally founded by Fela.
Senegalese hip hop group Daara J, fresh
off a performance at Live 8, will open the
show with their border smashing, political-
ly conscious style of hip hop. The group
adds a new dimension to the international
hip hop community by melding English
with French, Spanish and Wolof (a promi-
nent Senegalese dialect). Following the
lead of Senegalese rappers like Positive
Black Soul and the Senegalese-born MC
Solaar, Daara J’s American debut album
Boomerang conveys a fresh and all too rare
international hip hop experience.
ew
• M ed i ta t i on S i ng i ng B ow l s – d i f fe re nt c o lo r , di f fe r en t s i ze s
• T ib et an T ha n g k as , C ar pe t s , an d M ed i ta t i on P il l ow s
• Ti b et an J ew el ry – T u r qu oi se , L ap i s, J ad e , A mb er St on es
• T ib e t an , I nd ia n, Ne p a l an d B hu ta n C l ot h in g
• K a sh me re S ha wl s
• I nc e n s e , te a s, a n d mu c h m o re
265 E. 13th Ave. Eugene, OR 97401 • 541.485.8007 • Key to Tibet@yahoo.com
24 JULY 21, 2005