★Knitting Factory Records
Ikoyi Blindness
Fela used the cover of Ikoyi Blindness to announce his change of middle name from Ransome, which he now considered a slave name, to Anikulapo, which means “he who carries death in his pouch.” The front cover shows Ransome crossed out and Anikulapo added above it. Fela also used the album cover to announce the Africanisation of Africa 70’s name, changing it to Afrika 70. In the title track, Fela draws attention to the economic chasm separating the haves and have-nots of Nigerian society, contrast…
Original Suffer Head
This edition of Original Sufferhead is a major event. With the release of box set #5, and now on this reissue, the title track of this magnificent album is presented in its full-length, 25 minutes 24 seconds glory. While preparing the master disc for the box set, our engineer Jedi, Colin Young, discovered four minutes of “lost” material on the B-side of the original pressing, including a superb keyboard solo by Fela. This had been omitted from subsequent reissues. The restored version used here …
O.D.O.O. (Overtake Don Overtake Overtake)
Overtake Don Overtake Overtake was the penultimate album of newly recorded studio material released by Fela before he passed in 1997. Like its immediate predecessor, Beasts Of No Nation (also 1989), and its followup, Underground System (1992), the album finds Fela continuing to campaign for human rights and social change despite the relentless beatings, jailings and general harassment he had received from successive military regimes since the start of the 1970s.
Noise For Vendor Mouth
"The Nigerian establishment labelled Kalakuta Republic inhabitants as — ‘hooligans’, ‘hemp smokers’, etc. Noise For Vendor Mouth is Fela’s indifference to that name calling because, for him, people in Kalakuta are really a bunch of hard working citizens, trying to survive in a society riddled with corruption and mismanagement. He adds that the real hooligans are those in authority who resort to political gangsterism, and sometimes military coups in order to resolve constitutional issues. He cons…
Excuse O
The deepest song here is the second track, ""Mr Grammarticalogylisationalism Is The Boss,” which ridicules the notion that speaking ""proper"" English demonstrates superior intelligence, and bemoans the fact that doing so is, unfortunately, a requirement for upward mobility. As the chorus repeats the line “Him talk oyinbo pass English man” (“He talks English better than an Englishman”), Fela lays it down: “The better oyinbo you talk, the more bread you get, school start na grade four bread, B.A.…
Kalakuta Show
"The Kalakuta Show album release was Fela’s undaunted manner of extracting revenge on the military regime that attacked and brutalized him in 1974. The second of such attacks in a space of eight months, Kalakuta Show was an attempt by the Nigerian police to influence the cause of justice. After the first police raid on Kalakuta in April 1974, Fela was charged to court for: ‘possession of dangerous drugs’, and abduction of ‘minors’. However, the evidence presented by the prosecution was easily ex…
Why Black Man Dey Suffer.......
Also featuring Ginger Baker, the title track is among Fela’s first overtly political lyrics. His political perspective had evolved during the 1969 / 1970 tour of the US, largely through his friendship with the black-rights activist Sandra Izsadore, who introduced him to the writings of Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, Angela Davis and other revolutionary thinkers. By the time Fela wrote “Why Black Man Dey Suffer,” his songwriting and public statements were becoming increasingly critical of the pow…
Roforofo Fight
*2023 stock* "A brilliant album from Fela Kuti – and one that shows him really coming into his own, with that tremendous new sound that would go onto influence decades of musicians! The title track – Roforofo Fight – is a side-long jam that instantly sets a new standard for African funk – skittish drums, a sweet keyboard line that snakily sets the groove, and a wonderful long alto solo that's got even more raspy soul than Fela's vocals! Those vocals are sometimes more broken up, verbally – and h…
Shakara
*50th Anniversary reissue* These percolating, horn-heavy grooves simmer while Fela Kuti lays down his trademark rants, often in deliberately skewered pidgin English....totally unstoppable in its mix of music and message. His voice, interlocking guitars and percussionist Tony Allen turn grooves that often have 1 or 2 chords into complex statements - minimalism made for dancers.
Gentleman
50th Anniversary Reissue on Igbo Smoke Vinyl. Fela Kuti (1938-1997) was a Nigerian musician, producer, arranger, political radical, outlaw and the originator of Afrobeat. A titanic musical and sociopolitical voice, Fela’s legacy spans decades and genres, touching on jazz, pop, funk, hip-hop, rock and beyond. 1973’s Gentleman is the 7th in the series of celebratory Fela 50th Anniversary reissues. Like its predecessors in the series, this version will be available on exclusive colored vinyl (Igbo…
Open & Close
*2023 stock* "Perhaps the distinguishing factors of records like Open & Close and some of Fela Kuti's other '70s releases are that as much as he liked to ride a groove, he also liked to disrupt it, twist it and turn it, reshape it, only to bring it back to its original shape. There was less of that later in his career" - All Music
Zombie
"Zombie: Fela in his life time was never ‘a good bed-fellow’ of the military institution. As a political activist, he believed the army should operate under the mandate of a civil government. If national interest compels the armed forces to intervene in government, the army is obliged to hand over power to a new civil government elected by the people and enjoying their mandate. To do otherwise is to usurp power particularly since a soldier’s duty is not to seek a political mandate. For emphasis …
Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense
*2023 stock* "Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense: Fela explains the role of the teacher in any society with the concept that: all the things we consider as problems, and all the good things we accept from life as good, begin with what we are taught. The individual teaching begins with when we are children – our mother is our teacher. When we come of school age, our teacher is the school-teacher. At the university, the lecturers and professors are our teachers. After university—when we start to work…
Yellow Fever
*2023 stock* Fela Kuti deplores the fashion among African women for skin-whitening creams, an example of the post-colonial inferiority complex he believed was holding back the country's development. The song addresses the fashion much as 1973’s “Gentleman” berated African men for adopting European suits and ties. Fela explains that if you catch an “original” fever such as jaundice, you will suffer but, with luck, survive, and your symptoms will fade away. But if you catch an “artificial” (self-i…
J.J.D (Johnny Just Drop!!) - Live!! At Kalakuta Republik
*2023 stock* "Johnny Just Drop is talking about Africans who travel abroad only to return home with new values and mannerisms. Since the advent of colonialism in Africa, the education system left Black people with an inferior perception of their culture. Those who are Western educated, are in the habit of repeating untruths about African traditions and heritage, because the discipline to think and act big has not yet become a part of Africa’s present day academic and intellectual traditions. For…
Live!
* 50th-anniversary reissue, 2LP on red vinyl * Originally recorded in 1971 at Abbey Road studios in just a few hours, 'Live!' is a collaboration between good friends former Cream drummer Ginger Baker and Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and Afrobeat pioneer Fela Ransome-Kuti and his band The Africa 70. Featuring a live audience of 150 people who crammed into the studio with them, this is not only a piece of history with some of the most accomplished musicianship you'll ever hear, it's also a real…
Confusion
* 2022 Small Repress * Over a decade a half after his death, vindication has come to Fela Kuti, Africa’s musical genius. AfroBeat, his gift to the world, is now an international staple on his own uncompromising terms, social content intact. Throughout his life, Fela contended that AfroBeat was a modern form of danceable, African classical music with an urgent message for the planet’s denizens. Created out of a cross-breeding of Funk, Jazz, Salsa and Calypso with Juju, Highlife and African percus…
Fela's London Scene
* 50th anniversary edition of 1971's London Scene, pressed on limited edition white, red, blue splatter vinyl. Complete with a collector's gold OBI strip *Fela Kuti (1938-1997) was a Nigerian musician, producer, arranger, political radical and outlaw, and the originator of Afrobeat. A titanic musical and sociopolitical voice, Fela’s legacy spans decades and genres, touching on jazz, pop, funk, hip-hop, rock and beyond. After graduating from Trinity College of Music (now Trinity Laban Conservatoi…
V.I.P. (Vagabonds In Power) Vol. 1 Live In Berlin
* 2021 Repress * Knitting Factory Records reissue Fela Kuti’s ‘Army Arrangement’ on vinyl, previously only available as part of the Box Set series. ‘Army Arrangement’ is about Nigeria’s attempt at ‘democracy’ in 1979 after more than a decade of military rule.Bill Laswell’s mix of Army Arrangement for the Celluloid label was an act of gross cultural-arrogance. With Fela in jail on trumped up currency-smuggling charges when the time came to make the final mix, the label approached Dennis Bovell. B…
Army Arrangement
Knitting Factory Records reissue Fela Kuti’s ‘Army Arrangement’ on vinyl, previously only available as part of the Box Set series. ‘Army Arrangement’ is about Nigeria’s attempt at ‘democracy’ in 1979 after more than a decade of military rule.Bill Laswell’s mix of Army Arrangement for the Celluloid label was an act of gross cultural-arrogance. With Fela in jail on trumped up currency-smuggling charges when the time came to make the final mix, the label approached Dennis Bovell. But Bovell was una…