Went over to the New Africa Shrine last night to catch Femi Kuti and band one last time before the Holidays. It was one of the looser sets I've witnessed. Femi came out at about 8:00 PM without much fanfare and joined the band on trumpet. It was the first time I've seen any of the hornmen solo while Femi was on stage; he usually reserves all the solo space for himself and the horn section serves solely as backup. Both the baritone player and tenor man Dotun “Dotsax” Bankole took long solos last night while Femi climbed the riser at the back of the stage and played trumpet with the section. He then did some time on soprano sax but didn’t touch his alto at all, nor his rarely-heard tenor. The first half hour was more jazzy and improvisatory than usual but then segued into some of Femi's more recognizable tunes like Dem Bobo, which in Pidgin means something to the effect of “they deceive” (Dem bobo your mama, dem bobo your papa, in the name of democracy….).
I did my Christmas shopping at the Shrine and picked up a nice Fela singlet. Won’t be finding one of those down at the local mall. I'm off for Penang via Dubai tonight.
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