New Africa Shrine, Revisited

Being accused by one of my readers of not keeping my blog up, I feel compelled to post today. Sometimes we take things for granted. I suppose I fall into that boat about the New Africa Shrine, which is no more than 400 meters from my doorstep in the estimation of a colleague from London, who was simply amazed at the music coming out of what is ostensibly my neighborhood bar. I haven’t been going there so often lately as the show has become repetitive for me. However, on Thursday I had a contingent of work visitors from the U.K. and U.S. who wanted to pay homage at the Shrine, despite its rough reputation among the Nigerian professionals in our office. The Shrine’s star shines much more brightly overseas than it does locally.

The three foreign guests were simply stunned by the show that Femi Kuti and Positive Force put on at the Shrine that night. The glow of first experience. The place itself, the front-row table, the band rocking its warm-up set, the full horn section, the percussionists, the dancers both on stage and in cages alongside, the crowd, Femi’s star power, his rap, his circular breathing shtick on alto. All things that have become less impressive to me after dozens of times in the same seat over the past year or so. Time to take a fresh look. I will return tonight.

I saw tenor saxophonist Dotun “Dotsax” Bankole up on stage; he sounded excellent in his one solo feature during the first set. Dotun dropped by my house yesterday for a jam. He doesn't get to showcase his talent on stage as much as he might like and always cuts loose whenever I see him privately. We jammed for about an hour and a half before he had to leave for his far-away home in neighboring Ogun State. Free association, Lester Leaps In, and Milestones were all we had time for. As last time we met, we swapped tenors; we both have silver-plate Mark VIs of about the same vintage and he swears mine sounds better because the silver plate is gone and the bare brass resonates differently. Here is a brief track of Dotun improvising unaccompanied on tenor; he is working on a new album of originals which he expects to be complete in about two months.

Femi and the band will be leaving for a summer tour of the U.S. in a couple of weeks, beginning late June. Tenor fans, look for Dotun on stage if you want to hear one of contemporary Africa's best saxophonists.

Femi Kuti on CNN’s Inside Africa

There is a half-hour segment currently running on CNN’s Inside Africa series that focuses on contemporary music scene in West Africa (primarily Nigeria), a scene that I find vapid - an opinion that causes the younger locals to label me “old school”. I simply find nothing in today’s big sunglasses, machine-driven beats, and insipid lyrics to inspire me when compared to what existed a few decades ago. I mean then the musicians actually played instruments. Just my opinion, I may be wrong.

The Inside Africa segment features a seven minute interview with Femi Kuti and some footage of the New Africa Shrine in Lagos. Click here to watch. Kudos to Femi's international publicity machine for getting him on CNN. In searching for the web link, I came across an interview with Femi where he described Afrobeat as “incredibly popular” – if that is so, he means outside of Nigeria because it is on life support here in its homeland. Fela Kuti so dominated the Afrobeat scene that his death nearly killed the entire genre; today you will be hard pressed to find live Afrobeat music in Nigeria outside of sons Femi and Seun playing with their respective bands at the Shrine. I understand that some of that crappy hip-hop so popular with the younger crowd has labeled itself Afrobeats just to confuse the issue. Afrobeats has nothing to do with Afrobeat beyond appropriating the name.

The CNN video opens with a shot of my friend, tenor saxophonist Dotun “Dotsax” Bankole, at 00:06; he shows up again a couple more times. Hope that does something good for his career as he is a solid player deserving wider exposure. I think I might have been present at the Shrine during one of the nights they were filming, as I previously noted Femi playing trumpet up on the riser with the horn section as shown in the final few seconds of the video. His yellow t-shirt looks mighty familiar too. I don’t remember seeing the cheesy CNN reporter at the Shrine, however. Throughout the segment, he wears what we used to call a sh*t eating grin back when I was growing up in the Midwest. He would have stood out like a sore thumb. You just don’t see smiles like that in Lagos.

Christmas at the Shrine

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.

Amayo from Antibalas Guests with Femi Kuti's Band

Femi Kuti's regular Sunday night performance at the New Africa Shrine featured a special treat last night - vocalist Abraham Amayo from Antibalas sat in with the band during the warm-up set. Antibalas is a Brooklyn, New York based afrobeat orchestra that gained notoriety during the Broadway run of the Fela! musical. Amayo can really sing and he didn't move like an American. I googled him this morning and now it makes sense - he is of Nigerian descent although born in the UK and domiciled in the US. He may be the most capable guest artist I have seen at the Shrine these last few months. His two songs actually received applause from the usually stoic regulars at the Shrine. Have a listen. 

In researching Amayo and Antibalas (a very good afrobeat band, but incontrovertibly a US-based revival band), an irony became apparent - Antibalas made the front page of the New York Times Arts section about a month ago while at the same time, in its home country of Nigeria, afrobeat is virtually nonexistent outside the walls of the New Africa Shrine. Many of the artists and musicians who formed the style are lingering in obscurity and poverty. The NYT article spoke of afrobeat's "momentum" - which must be happening outside of Nigeria because it ain't much happening here. You have to wear big sunglasses, drive a huge car, and do hip-hop to be deemed a successful musician in Nigeria these days. Afrobeat is considered strictly "old school." Once again, the West has 'discovered' and co-opted a unique ethnic art form while back at home, the art form is on its deathbed. 

Catch this quote from the NYT article: “Now every town we go to in the States, Canada or Europe has its own local Afrobeat act,” he [the band's trombonist] said. “Or two or three or four.” Are you kidding me? I'm still looking for one place in Lagos other than the Shrine to hear live afrobeat. With so little interest in playing afrobeat among Nigeria's young people, I wonder if it will survive the decade as living culture in its homeland. Highly questionable. I really don't know what can be done about it since 42.8% of the Nigerian population is under the age of 15, which means they were born after Fela's death and have little or no exposure to his music. May be that afrobeat is something you will only hear from revival bands in Brooklyn in the future.

Femi Kuti's PhD from Kalakuta

PhD from Kalakuta

Femi Kuti Playing Alto 

Went to the New Africa Shrine last night to hear Femi Kuti and his band play their regular Sunday night gig. It was more crowded than usual since Ramadan just ended. It is Sallah in Nigeria; Monday has been declared a public holiday and nobody had to get up early for work for a change. Femi was full of energy and he and the band played for nearly five hours without a break. The floor was packed by the end of the set.

And a Bit of Trumpet

Femi took the opportunity in the last hour to recount some of his life story first-hand. He and the Kuti family are celebrities in Nigeria and there is way more written about their personalities and personal lives in the local press than there is about their music. Femi is often maligned as uneducated and even illiterate and it is well known that he and Fela didn't exactly see eye to eye. But although Femi did not finish secondary school and many of his school mates went on to university to become doctors and lawyers, he is far from illiterate. Femi told the crowd last night that he "has a PhD from Kalakuta" and went on to say how his father in fact made him read plenty of challenging and thought provoking books. Femi has done well for himself regardless of his foreshortened formal education and the fact that the Shrine has survived for so long as a people's venue is testament to his success. And the fact that he is talking openly about his relationship with Fela shows that he has mellowed some after the big 5-0, as some of us old souls predicted.

Now You See It

Now You Don't

Musically, I found it rather strange that Femi plays his alto with the mike jammed way down into the bell. I've never seen anyone play that way before except as an occasional effect. Maybe it is a function of the band's volume - it gets pretty loud in the Shrine - and his preference for the mix, a way to get the sax heard above the thunder. Look at the adjacent photos and you'll see what I am talking about.

Femi Kuti - Caught In The Act of Creation

I was fortunate last night to witness an act of musical creation, on hand while Femi Kuti composed a new tune and he and his musicians worked out the arrangement and backing parts live on stage. 

I came to the New Africa Shrine at about 7:30 pm to watch Femi and band rehearse. Previous Thursday night rehearsals have been more of an informal show than a working session, but last night was different. I arrived to hear Femi working out a line on keys and his horn players rushing to match the line and scribble notes on paper. I knew something was up because the band plays without scores and it was the first time I had seen anything being written down. 

Femi's keyboard line was a 4-bar ascending figure over a bass vamp, quite simple in itself but built into a compelling whole through repetition, layering, and dynamics. The band worked on it for about an hour and a half, saxes, trumpets, and rhythm section each figuring out their parts while Femi directed. The lion's share of time was spent on the bass line and bass/drum coordination. With parts sketched out, Femi walked out into the audience to listen intently from the dance floor and the mixing booth. 

Femi played keyboards almost exclusively last night although I did see him he pick up his tenor for the first time since I've been in Lagos. He blew it for a short while, facing the band rather than the microphone as if he was figuring out how to approach his solo on the new tune. 

After working out the arrangement to his satisfaction, Femi took a short break at around 9:00 pm. When the band came back, they performed the new tune for the first time. It sounded as if it could have already been in the book for a year. The process of musical creation is fascinating and it was a privilege to be present at the premier performance of this piece of music, which we may find in Femi's regular repertoire in the near future. Here is an audio snippet.

Femi's Back in Town

Femi Kuti and band completed their European summer tour and returned to Lagos this week. Last night, Femi was back in action at the New Africa Shrine for the first time in a month. He seemed mellow and relaxed compared to the weeks before the tour, with all the build-up to his 50th birthday celebration now over. 

I walked into the Shrine during the warm-up set in the middle of an extended tenor solo by Dotun Bankole on his silver Mark VI. At this point the staff of the Shrine know me pretty well, to the point where I don't even need to tell them what I want to order. Showboy met me and a few minutes after we sat down, he was called up on stage after it was announced that the composer of African Soldier was in the house. 

Rilwan "Showboy" Fagbemi

That led to two extended tunes with Showboy fronting the Positive Force band for about half an hour. Something is in the air, as you might recall that last month Showboy played with Femi's band for the first time ever, 15 years after Fela's death. When Showboy finished I kidded him that he now has a second gig (in addition to being musical director of Seun Kuti's Egypt 80). He laughed and said that he hadn't been at the Shrine at all since we were last there together in mid-June. Showboy's two tunes got a rise from the typically stoic crowd since long-time fans recognize him from his days with Fela. 

Showboy and Femi's Dancers at Rehearsal

Femi came out on trumpet and then displayed his considerable prowess in circular breathing on both soprano and alto. 

I'm back in Lagos now and within easy striking distance of the Shrine. More to come in the next few days. Here are a couple of photos of Showboy from last night, in the meantime.

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.

Showboy and Femi Kuti's Band, Together for the First Time

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.

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.

Femi Kuti's 50th Birthday

Nigeria's Afrobeat star Femi Kuti turns 50 on June 16. Interviews with Femi have been all over the Nigerian press. The local papers are more fascinated with Kuti family soap operas than with Femi's music.

Femi's music is of greater interest to me, so I attended Femi's rehearsal on June 7 at the New Africa Shrine in Lagos. I went with Showboy and we were recognized in the audience by the announcer as two Very Important Personalities - Showboy and the white brother who plays tenor sax! What an ego trip. Following that, Showboy was called up on stage and sang with Femi's band for the first time ever, an historic event of sorts. I'll post the recordings soon. Femi showed off his skills at circular breathing on alto.

It was an informal rehearsal and Femi had some of his kids up on stage with him. I took a bunch of photos, more of which can be viewed on Flickr by clicking here. Femi will be going on tour after his birthday and won't be back at the Shrine until the third week of July.

My 15 Minutes of Fame Passed Quickly

Out of the frying pan and into the fire. I really asked for it. Only two weeks in Lagos but carrying the dream of playing at the Africa Shrine for a long time, and there I was blowing my horn on the Shrine's main stage with Femi Kuti's Positive Force band behind me, standing in the spot of the man himself. 

"And then you woke up." 

No, really. Last night I went to the New Africa Shrine at about 6:00pm to meet up with Femi's tenor saxophonist Dotun Bankole. While I was waiting around Femi showed up and introduced himself. I brought my horn; Dotun had his silver-plated Mark VI with him and took me up on stage. We assembled our horns and started blowing. It turned into a 30 or 40 minute free jam which I found really enjoyable - we had no problem communicating from the first note as we alternated trading licks, playing unison lines, riffing and laying down rhythms for each other. Dotun is an excellent player and it was a blast. He made me think, blow, and sweat hard. One of the most fun times I've ever had playing the sax, seriously.

I was told that Femi rehearses his band on Thursday nights so my expectation before I went was an informal working session with the band. Not so; the band worked through some arrangements led by the music director before Femi joined up, but after 8:00 Femi came on stage and played a three hour set straight through! It was as intense a show as Sunday night's performance, only Femi and the band were dressed in street clothes and the dancers were not made up and costumed. When Femi says his performance runs 7:00 to 11:00, he means nonstop! And on Thursday nights, admission to the Shrine is free. Where else in the world can you see an international star and his genre-leading band perform a four hour set for free? 

After we jammed, Dotun asked me to sit down for a while and he would call me up on stage...I thought to join with the horn section and work out. He kept my horn up on stage and assembled it next to him. Right after 7:00 the band started playing, then about halfway through the first hour I heard my name announced from stage on the PA. The entire band broke into a fanfare. I had no clue. I put my harness on, went up on the riser next to Dotun, and picked up my tenor. He pushed me out into the spotlight, right into Femi's spot at the front of the stage with Femi's horns on their stand at my feet. I was in the man's spot facing the audience with the 12-piece band at full blast behind me. There was no choice but to blow. 

Hmmm. I've been around too much to say I was terrorized, but it was definitely nerve-racking and it took me a moment to get my footing. I hung at the mike for around seven minutes, soloing over the polyrhythms and horn punctuations, and the proof is here for posterity. Not my best-ever solo, but I take solace in the fact that Sonny Rollins can't stand listening to his own recordings either. Then it was over. I want more. 

Yes, I did it. I played on center stage at the New Africa Shrine with the world's very best Afrobeat band behind me. Whew.

Femi Kuti at the New Africa Shrine

I arrived in Lagos about two weeks ago. Lagos seems better than last time I was here, no doubt because of high oil prices rather than structural reforms in the economy or increased competitiveness of Nigerian businesses. A high tide floats all boats. 

To my surprise, on my second morning in town I looked out of the window as the car pulled up to the office and there was the New Africa Shrine! The most famous music venue in all of Africa is right across the street from where I work... an incredibly fortuitous coincidence in this sprawling, chaotic city of some 18 million. Lagos can be a daunting place so I waited to go in until I could get some Nigerian friends to go with me. Femi Kuti plays on Sunday nights when he is not touring. I went last night. 

Femi Kuti on stage at the New Africa Shrine

The Venue: Run by son Femi in the mainland neighborhood of Ikeja, the New Africa Shrine is the successor to Fela Kuti's legendary Africa Shrine. It is a large, cavernous venue decorated with Fela memorabilia, with a high stage up front. The cover charge last night was just over $3 and a large Heineken was also about $3. Definitely a people's venue. The atmosphere reminded me of the 1970s. There is no place like it in the Western world.  

The Artist: Femi Kuti is an international star but his music at the Shrine is all for the local crowd. His hard work on stage is impressive; Femi sang and played nonstop for more than two hours after I arrived, which was well after his set began. He was totally drenched from the exertion. The hardest working man in show business...totally into his music and his dedicated Lagos audience. 

Femi has the energy of a man less than half his age. My friend told me he is 51 which makes him almost as old as me, but he sings, jumps, and dances nonstop. Not a star who sings a snippet here and there and lets the band take over. He has the touch for direct audience communication.  

Apologies for the bad hand phone shots...

The Music: Femi's music has evolved from Fela's. It seems like every instrument is a percussion instrument, even the horns. Femi sang last night much more than he played. His music is dense and doesn't feature as many solos as his father's classic sides; Femi's tunes are more structured and there is less space for the instrumentalists to stretch out. Last night, he played some trumpet and later on in the set, alto sax. No tenor. The band featured three trumpets, trombone, baritone and tenor saxes, electric bass, guitar, keyboards, drums, two additional percussionists, and anywhere from two to six dancers, with Femi up front. There were dancers on platforms at each side of the stage.

Femi didn't take a break while I was there and exited backstage as soon as he finished his set so I didn't get to meet him. But while the horns were packing up I introduced myself to tenor player Dotun Bankole. When I told him I played sax, he put his cool 1950's Kohlert tenor back together and asked me to blow. On the spot audition. I hadn't touched my horn in two weeks but somehow a Bb jump blues came out and the end result is that he invited me to come Thursday for the band's rehearsal and bring my horn.