Femi Kuti's 50th Birthday Party

Femi Kuti at 50

Last night Femi Kuti held his 50th birthday party at the New Africa Shrine in Ikeja. This was a by-invitation-only event, one of the media and social events of the year in Lagos. Fortunately, Showboy told me Thursday that Egypt 80 would be playing on Saturday and invited me. I had no idea it was such a big deal at the time; I only found out on Saturday night at about 7:00 PM when I arrived at the Shrine and there were cars parked several blocks away and the building was surrounded by a big crowd and decorated with streamers. A new entrance had been constructed at the side; I had noticed the construction on Thursday. After fighting through the crowd, security asked my for my invitation as it seemed every Femi fan in Lagos wanted to get inside. Luckily, the mention of Showboy's name got me in the door no problem. 

Once inside, the normally informal Shrine had been transformed - there was a crowd of at least a thousand, tables were decorated, people were dressed for show. There were guest acts on stage. I looked around and couldn't find Showboy. I had tried phoning him about a dozen times and the notoriously poor Nigerian cell phone service gave me every sort of error message from "invalid number" to "network busy" to "phone switched off", but in any case I couldn't reach him. I got a table and went up to the stage to find him. I never did, but Femi came over and shook my hand as I was standing there and I had a chance to congratulate him. Very down-to-earth for a celebrity. 

A friend arrived late. I went to the side gate to bring him in and as a result got my first-ever taste of tear gas. The surging crowd was being controlled by canisters of tear gas set off near the entrance so both legitimate guests and rowdy wannabes got a lungful, me included. Nigerian crowd control. 

The energy of a man 20 years his junior

Femi was exceedingly generous to his guests - food and drink were on the house all night, a full menu of Nigerian dishes and drinks ranging from beer to champagne (good stuff too, Laurent Perrier). We laughed because Nigerians love to eat and some of the party guests around us were eating multiple plates of everything and ordering successive bottles of champagne, Guinness, and scotch. Everyone was dancing. I had to laugh, this was a different crowd than the normal Shrine crowd, more into Femi's celebrity than his music; in between live shows, the PA played pop and disco music instead of the mandatory Fela. I swear I heard Get Down On It for the first time in 10 years as well as insipid Lionel Richie. Not what I expected to hear at the Shrine. ROFL. 

Not long after I arrived, I spotted some of the Egypt 80 band members mounting the stage. Showboy finally found me, said he had been looking outside for two hours but we never located each other in the crowd. A special occasion, Seun Kuti and Fela's band Egypt 80 asked to perform for Femi's 50th birthday, the brothers brought together by the event. Showboy led off with African Soldier, one of his more recent compositions. Seun then took over the band and performed for about 45 minutes, singing and playing keys, but no sax. Such a powerful horn section. 

After the Egypt 80 set, local celebrities (like rappers who were recognized by all the people around me as big stars) and paparazzi crowded around Femi on stage, where there were gifts given and a too-long version of Happy Birthday sung with different big shots taking turns. Femi, however, seized the occasion not to sweet talk but rather to rail against corruption in Nigeria and the corresponding lack of electricity, decent health care, equal education et al. ("Nothing to show for it..."). I was really glad to see him use this forum to demonstrate that he is more than a mindless media star. He then brought his band out and did a short set of hits, including Beng Beng Beng, where he sang and danced like a madman but again didn't play any sax. He has the energy of a man 20 years his junior. 

Rappers and disco music notwithstanding, a good time was had by all. Thank you, Femi.