Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 at the New Africa Shrine

Amazing. Having just heard Femi Kuti's band a couple of times at their home venue, I thought I had experienced the pinnacle of Afrobeat. Then younger brother Seun came to town leading Egypt 80, Fela's former band. This must be one heck of a sibling rivalry.

Seun Kuti on alto

Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 played Saturday night at the New Africa Shrine in Lagos. The show was just outstanding, over three and a half intense hours without a break. I didn't leave the place until the music finished at 3:00am. The primary reason the music was so great is that about half the members of Egypt 80 were in the band when Fela was still alive. Egypt 80 is a living connection to Fela Kuti, the founder of Afrobeat. 

Looks like a modern Selmer

Seun Kuti is the spitting image of his father. He looks, moves, and dresses like Fela. The band mixes Seun's compositions seamlessly with Fela's and it is obvious that the son learned his lessons well. Seun reinforces some of the political messages Fela was famous for and they are just as relevant in today's Nigeria as they were 30 or more years ago. This is primal Afrobeat, essentially a static-harmony rhythmic music led by the horns, with plenty of room for the instrumentalists to solo and stretch out. Seun plays a whole lot of alto sax - his sound reminds me of Maceo Parker (Maceo! You can blow!). The band rocked from start to finish without letup. To me, the highlight of the evening was a crushing version of Fela's Zombie, with Seun marching around the stage in paramilitary parody...TURN RIGHT! TURN LEFT! SALUTE!.. 

Egypt 80 features baritone, tenor, and alto saxes, two trumpets, two guitars, electric bass, drum kit, three percussionists, and three dancers. The young bari player was, to me, the group's standout soloist and the instrument of the night had to be the log drum at stage left, beaten with two big sticks by a percussionist sitting on top of the drum. Practically the entire rhythm section was old school. Of the horn players, only the tenor player dated to Fela's original band. Fela's death must have been quite a blow to his band members but Seun has taken on the mantle admirably. This is much more than a tribute band. 

I met the band's music director Showboy on the sidelines; he rehearsed the band and led the warm-up set for about 45 minutes until Seun came on stage at midnight. Showboy said he knew Fela for 40 years and played baritone sax in Fela's band for years, until the end of the leader's life. I'm hoping to catch up with him this week and document some of the history of Fela's musicians. It was not only Fela who was great, his bands were great too, but most of us don't even know the musicians' names. That deep-down baritone sax that anchored Fela's horn section on his classic recordings was played by this man. 

As much as I loved hearing Femi Kuti and Positive Force, I was blown away by his lesser-known brother Seun Kuti and his band Egypt 80, and I put Seun on top of the heap. I took a load of photos at Saturday's show and will put them up as soon as I can get some decent bandwidth.