|
|
Summoning Afrobeat’s Rhythmic,
Rebellious Force to the Stage
By BEN SISARIO,
Published: August 5, 2008,
NYTimes
The shrine took shape between rehearsals, with
statuettes and bottles of water and palm wine laid
on the side of the stage. In Yoruba and English it
was proclaimed that the honoree, who had died one
day short of 11 years before, remained in spirit.
But this impromptu blessing last Friday for “Fela!,”
a new Off Broadway musical, did not truly become a
tribute to the show’s namesake — the Nigerian
bandleader and political gadfly Fela Anikulapo Kuti
— until the band kicked in and the 20-odd members of
the cast and crew took the stage and gave themselves
over to spontaneous dance.
Mr. Kuti, who died of AIDS in 1997 at 58, was the
king of Afrobeat, a musky hybrid of African rhythms
and American jazz and funk, and his songs — 15, 20,
40 minutes long — have coaxed many feet to the dance
floor. Defiant and irreverent in politics, he also
used his music and fame to denounce corruption and
ridicule those he called the world’s “vagabonds in
power.” That he was repeatedly jailed and beaten for
his opposition only quickened his route to becoming
a modern African folk hero.
All of that makes him a perfect subject for
....
.... More
|
