Here
’s a guy that I wish we had an American counterpart to. Femi Anikulapo Kuti, a mix of vocalist, composer, band leader, organist and fighter for truth in politics, has released another exciting album of protest against the corruption in politics. I’ll get to the music, but if we complained about how self serving our president is the way Kuti does, we’d be considered racist. Africans have been suffering under evil and amoral pocket stuffers (regardless of race and color or tribe) since they were born. Why can’t we Americans have that freedom without being vilified?
Anyway, I think I made my point. Musically, this is some of the most supercharge music you’re going to hear all year. The mix of horns supplied by Kuti, Dotun bankole/ts, Gbenga Ogundeji/tp and Daniel Bankole/bs is as thick and fervent as a stampede of wildebeests as on “Nothing To Show For It.” The churning guitar from Opeyami Awolomo chugs along like a matutu on the streets of Nairobi on “No Work No Job No Money,” and of course, Kuti’s impassioned vocals are one of the great sounds in contemporary music. Angry, defiant, passionate…he believes what he preaches. Can we get him on Fox News?
Knitting Factory Records