Fela Kuti & Afrika 70 – Zombie
From: Zombie [Celluloid, 1977]
Fela Kuti & Afrika 70 – Sorrow, Tears, & Blood
From: Sorrow, Tears & Blood [Kalakuta, 1977]
Fela on Broadway Official Site
A few months ago, I received a PR email asking if I wanted to receive some “cool stuff” that might, perhaps, inspire Earfuzz to help spread the word about a new musical coming to town. The show was vaguely described as “an energetic mix of Afrobeat music and African dance, following the life of a famous musician.” Hmm, I thought, sounds Earfuzzy… who could this famous musician possibly be?… of course, it’s Fela Kuti. While I expected it to be Fela, I did harbor a fear it might be a half-baked off off off Broadway production about a fictional composite character based roughly on the life of Fela. Nope. It appears they are going large here and doing their best to channel the spirit of Fela Kuti- the man, the myth, the legend-through the lens of a Broadway musical production. For many reasons, I’m optimistic it will be a killer show… Why?…
Exhibit A - PR mystery box actually contained some “cool stuff”
The contents of the box and more, after the jump.
Contents:
- Fela: This Bitch of Life – Biography
- Nigerian flag
- percussion instrument
- white face paint
- rolling papers
- promo DVD
- promo booklet
As far as PR packages go, this one definitely tops my list. Artsy. Thoughtful. Highlights include: the book (which is a fine read ((though I would have liked more passages about the music/musicians)) and the rolling papers (which function quite well as rolling papers). As well, it’s always nice to have a Nigerian flag.
Exhibit B - Antibalas is the house band!
I’ll be honest, my Broadway experience is very minimal. I generally find myself checking my watch every few minutes; counting down to my freedom. I have very little patience for the literal lyrics and over-dramatic narrative singing often prevalent in musicals. Seeing has how this production is telling the story of a musician with a massively excellent songbook, one expects to hear a healthy dose of the classics; and, Antibalas is as fine a band as any to perform those classics. Excellent band. And, if the show is light on original Fela Kuti material, you at least get an Antibalas concert of sorts (which is always a good thing).
Exhibit C - the preview clips look great
- Fela! On Broadway [Trailer]
- Interview with Director/Choreographer Bill T Jones
- Fela’s Sound
Exhibit D - Fela! On Broadway is ?uestlove approved
its uncut.
its true to the vision.
its amazing!
there is no option. i expect death to be the only reason why you did NOT see this production.
Read the full glowing review here.
——
This Friday (11/6) my friend Deji Olukotun, creator/author of FictionThatMatters.org will be heading in to the Eugene O’Neill Theatre to see Fela!. He’s going to put together a review for us which I’ll post here on Earfuzz.
In the meantime, fire up your favorite Fela jam and remember just how incredible this music is.
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Woah how come I never get offered this kind of thing? Promoters take note, the game has just been upped a level. Should be a good concert anyway.
Ha! I think it’s the NYC locale. It’s a very promoter populated city (perhaps more so than London?). I will say, this is a rare opportunity amongst all the things happening here. I’m glad they reached out to Earfuzz; we do love some afrobeat.
I could have sworn that I received this e-mail too, but I can’t find it for the life of me. Do you recall the date that you received this in your inbox? Anyway, it sounds pretty awesome, and how can they go wrong with Fela as the subject. This is one Broadway play that could keep my interest.
Do you guys know what happened to the comments? It seems like the only people commenting are fellow Ear Fuzz contributors.
Well, the site looks good, and it seems like we have all hands on deck to contribute more often. Hopefully, we can recapture the interest of our readers again.
your readers are still here! it’s just taking me awhile to pick my jaw up off the floor, after seeing this mysterious promo box. it’s a bit unreal.
Yeah we’ve (I’ve) been experiencing some difficulties getting the RSS feed and old archive pages properly redirected to the new site so we may have appeared frozen for a while for people checking in. Pleased to say that I think they’re all now working correctly.
I’m still bitter about that Promo box!
Badass
can’t wait to go see this! i want that box too
[...] stay on the old school tip, Ear Fuzz has posted some classic Fela Kuti tracks to honour the arrival of Fela! on Broadway, a musical based on the Afrobeat pioneer’s life as [...]