On Thursday, June 7, I was witness to an historic occasion of sorts at the New Africa Shrine in Lagos. I had gone over after work to meet and talk to Egypt 80 band member and Fela Kuti contemporary Rilwan "Showboy" Fagbemi, subject of a series of interviews earlier this month. Femi Kuti holds a public rehearsal of his Positive Force band on Thursdays when he is in town, and this was one of those days.
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| Teacher, Don't Teach Me Nonsense |
As noted in yesterday's post, Showboy and I (!) were recognized by the band's announcer as VIPs and a few minutes later Showboy was invited on stage to perform with the band. They did Fela's Teacher, Don't Teach Me Nonsense with Showboy on vocals. You can download and listen to the June 7 performance here.
When Showboy returned to our table after singing, he told me, surprisingly, that this was the first time he had ever performed with Femi's band in the 15 years since Fela's death. Apparently there was some bad blood between Femi and Fela that extended to band members; Femi wanted to do his own thing with his own band and own music after his father died. Somehow, last Thursday night, any tension lingering after all these years dissipated and Fela's bandmate Showboy was called on stage as honored guest.
Afterward, Showboy was asked back for Femi's regular Sunday night performance on June 10 and he again sang Teacher, Don't Teach Me Nonsense with the band (download and listen to the June 10 performance here). He later told me he called two other Fela tunes but the band didn't know them. He will be returning this coming Thursday to rehearse those tunes with the band. Perhaps the beginning of a new development in Afrobeat, the joining of the hottest contemporary band with its roots.
When I turned 50 my first thought is that I had outlived Pres and Jug, both of whom passed at 49. Then I looked in the mirror and saw my father. Perhaps Femi has had the same thought.
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