Fela Kuti

All classic cuts, taken from various albums released by legendary afrobeat icon Fela Kuti during the 1970's. There's no filler to speak of. Every song is totally hardcore, uncompromisingly funky and timeless. This would be a great entry point for the uninitiated.

This meeting of the minds and bands of Afro-funk creator Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and American vibist and R&B/jazz innovator Roy Ayers is a collaboration that shouldn't work on the surface. Fela's music was raw, in your face politically and socially, and musically driven by the same spirit as James Brown's JBs. At the time of this recording in 1979, Ayers had moved out of jazz entirely and become an R&B superstar firmly entrenched in the disco world. Ayers' social concerns – on record – were primarily cosmological in nature. So how did these guys pull off one of the most badass jam gigs of all time, with one track led by each man and each taking a full side of a vinyl album? On hand were Fela's 14-piece orchestra and an outrageous chorus made up of seven of his wives and five male voices.

Fela Ransome-Kuti and The Africa'70 - Fela With Ginger Baker - Live! (1971) {FAK-Barclay 549 383-2 rel 2001}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 440 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 147 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 29 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1971, 2001 FAK / Barclay / Universal | 549 383-2
Jazz / Funk / Groove / World / Soul Jazz / Jazz Funk / Afrobeat/ Drums

RIP Ginger, one of the greatest drummers of all time… It's hard to go wrong with Fela Kuti's work from the 1970s, and LIVE!, which features the Afrobeat innovator backed by his powerhouse band Africa '70 and ex-Cream drummer Ginger Baker, is no exception. Like all of Fela's recordings from the era, LIVE! consists of just a few tracks, each of which approximates or exceeds the ten minute mark. Yet the arrangements are so dynamic on these tracks, the criss-crossing polyrhythms so absorbing, and Fela's incantatory vocals so entrancing that the long running times never seem a factor. Every cut crackles from beginning to end with its mixture of funk, jazz, and traditional Nigerian music, underscoring once again Fela's revolutionary, indelible contribution to world music.

Afrobeat’s rise to common musical currency has been mercurial during the last 5 years as dance music producers embrace more complex Afro rhythms and original West African pioneers like Fela Kuti and Tony Allen receive their dues. Featuring new hip hop from Ty alongside seminal house beats from Masters At Work and ultra-funky original music from Nigeria and Ghana courtesy of Fela Kuti, highlife God E.T. Mensah and more. 2 CD collection of 29 tracks then hits the groove straight away with Aslhley Beadle’s ‘Afrikans On Marz’ mix of Femi Kuti’s ‘Beng Beng Beng’, next up the classic Dennis Ferrer track ‘Funu’ which then leads us to a nicely different track with Tony Allen’sAfrobeat mix of Gigi’s ‘Gudfella’. So many more I could pick out too including DJ Food ‘Dub Lion’ and Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo De Cotonou Benin’s ‘Houe Towe Houn’. Suffice to say this does the job big time.