Biodun & Batik Afro Jazz Band at Freedom Park - Audio Tracks

On Stage at Freedom Park in Lagos
with Biodun & Batik Afro Jazz Band

I was invited to Freedom Park on Lagos Island on Friday night to perform as the guest of trumpeter Biodun with his Batik Afro Jazz Band. Freedom Park is a relatively new venue on the site of the former colonial prison, an open air stage inside a walled prison courtyard that has been converted into a green space – an urban performance place in a sculpture garden surrounded by food stalls. I had heard of Freedom Park as the site of occasional Seun Kuti gigs, but it is relatively far from where I stay and I had not previously ventured down there. It is a very nice spot to spend an evening and I recommend it to music fans in Lagos. Biodun met me at the gate and introduced me to the park director, who turns out to be Fela Kuti’s son-in-law.

Biodun is a fine Hugh Masakela-influenced trumpeter – I wrote about him when we first met in May of this year. His pedigree includes stints with Fela and Lagbaja. At Freedom Park, he fronted his Batik Afro Jazz Band of keyboards, guitar, bass, drums, and occasional girl singer. I had met bass player Mike before at Biodun’s home studio, but the rest of the rhythm section was new to me, fairly young but highly competent players. When Biodun phoned me to make the gig, I asked for a set list. He said not to worry, no set list, they probably would not play any standards, just some pop tunes and highlife in I-IV-V progression, and I could just jam along.

Two Tenors -
With Saxophonist Seun Olota

I realized the morning after the gig that Biodun and Batik play an incredible diversity of music – from jazz tunes by John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter to reggae, Fela's afrobeat, Igbo and Yoruba highlife, Afro-pop, originals, 60’s rock, and even some requisite smooth jazz hits and pop covers by the likes of Whitney Houston. I played tenor on the jazz tunes, most of the highlife, and had my first experience performing a Fela tune live – Water No Get Enemy, which I learned from Showboy last year and actually remembered. During the second set, another tenor player, Seun Olota, joined the group, making it an octet. He and Biodun looked to be old friends and Seun fronted the band on two Fela tunes, singing and dancing Water and Lady to the crowd’s delight.

I have posted a few audio tracks from my Zoom: here are links to Water No Get Enemy, Footprints, an Igbo highlife of unknown title, and Equinox (320 kbps MP3 sound files). That’s the good. The bad is that the sound system was not great, with the bass dominating, the snare drum too loud, and the piano down in the mix. The lead instruments were somewhat buried all night – especially the tenor sax, of course, which particularly gets drowned out by loud bass guitar since their frequencies overlap. But the music itself is nice.

There was no ugly.

Jamming with Trumpeter Biodun Batik

Blowing tenor up on the roof at Bogobiri in Ikoyi, Lagos late last month, I was approached by a gentleman who handed me his business card – it said Biodun Adebiyi B., Department of Theatre Arts and Music, Lagos State University – and gave the “call me” hand signal. So I did; I called him the next afternoon. He introduced himself as Biodun Batik, trumpeter and lecturer in music. He had been playing downstairs at a jazz event with his band while I played upstairs. He heard the sound of a saxophone and came up to introduce himself. On the phone he identified himself a fan of Clifford Brown and we discussed music we liked in common – hard bop, Jazz Messengers... He invited me to his house to jam.

After work one evening last week I went to his place in Egbeda, another district of Lagos. On the map it was not far from where I work in Ikeja, but in the nightmarish Lagos traffic it took almost two hours of sheer punishment to get there. It was worth it, though. When I arrived at his house there was a full studio in semi-open air, with drum set, keyboards, and amplifiers. His guitarist Kazzy and bassist Mike were there too, set up and jamming. We had never played together before and didn't have a chance to discuss tunes. I pulled out Blues March based on our earlier phone conversation and we jumped straight into it in unison, Biodun showcasing his fluegelhorn. Really nice sound. He then went into Equinox on keyboards (without asking, how did he know it is one of my faves?) and switched to drums when I started my solo – his drumming is as impressive as his horn playing. We continued through a set mostly of my choosing since I had my book with me – stuff I am comfortable with like Watermelon Man, Night In Tunisia, Moanin’. We ended with Blue Train. I recorded the night on my Zoom and you can hear some of the tracks by clicking on the track names that are highlighted. I even had a go on the drums which is a blast and got me thinking I should buy a kit, which I’m sure the neighbors would appreciate (…not).

The next day I googled Biodun Batik and came to find out that he is one of Nigeria’s most famous and well traveled brass players. He spent two years in Fela’s Egypt 80 (alongside Showboy on bari), from 1989 to 1991, and has played and recorded with a virtual Who’s Who of Nigerian old-school stars including Sunny Okosuns and Tony Allen. Here is a long article in Nigerian Compass profiling him. Probably the best trumpeter I've had the pleasure of playing alongside. Hopefully more jams and some gigs to come. Again, unfortunately, he bemoaned the current state of the Nigerian live music scene and doesn't gig with his own band, Batik, as often as he would like. But he made his name in the heyday of Nigerian music and earned his stripes from the demanding master, Fela, who only selected the best sidemen.

Sitting In at Bogobiri, Ikoyi – Audio Tracks

After a year, I finally found a decent place to play in Lagos – Bogobiri House in Ikoyi*, one of the most interesting and friendly spots in this too-harsh environment. Bogobiri is a small boutique hotel tucked in a residential neighborhood that features an in-house art gallery and at least three live music venues on premise, decorated throughout with one-off Africanisms. Bogobiri celebrates Nigeria in a way that many of today’s consumption-driven wannabe hipsters wish to ignore. I found the place refreshing. Check out the web site at http://www.bogobiri.com (admittedly, more hotel- than music-oriented).

Last Sunday night, I was invited to sit in at Bogobiri’s outdoor rooftop stage with Jagger and his rock band. There was a local jazz event going on simultaneously downstairs. I came with my tenor at 4 to rehearse but a private party had booked the space and that didn't happen. I sat around for a couple of hours and simply took my chances when the gig started at 7. I haven’t gigged much at all this year but have taken Monk’s advice to Steve Lacy to heart, “Stay in shape! Sometimes a musician waits for a gig, + when it comes, he’s out of shape + can’t make it.”

I had neither met nor played with Jagger before; there was no rehearsal, no sheet music, no set list, no notes at all. His music was rock, pop, highlife, reggae, and blues. I didn't know what the tunes were until I heard them. No pre-determined solos, no patterns to fit, no memorized parts; I had to find the key, listen to the tempo, the rhythm, the form, the cadence, the drummer’s signals, watch the eye contact. Spontaneous creation, I had to listen with my ears. The music only existed in that moment and can’t be repeated. After the gig, I thought about an interview I had read with the late saxophonist Bob Berg, where he expressed that no matter how good a musician he was, he constantly lived in fear of being discovered as a fraud since he was essentially “faking it” every time he improvised. But Sunday night, the feedback was good. 

This was the first time in ages that I actually liked some of the recordings. I've posted two tunes from Sunday that you can download and listen to – Kuchi Kuchi, a highlife tune, and Bob Marley’s Turn Your Lights Down Low. Although the equipment wasn't great and there were typical problems with mikes and cables, Jagger’s set up was clear and well balanced, and I also solved some technical problems with my Zoom recorder. In retrospect, it is like the music was playing itself for a change. 

* Shades of Fela’s Ikoyi Blindness from 1976 – Ikoyi is an expensive up-scale neighborhood in this nation of 90% poverty – Ikoyi Blindness refers to those social climbers whose behavior is oblivious to the situation all around them.

Seun Kuti Premieres A New Song at the Shrine

Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 performed last night at the New Africa Shrine in Lagos, their first Shrine appearance in 2013. The performance was sparsely attended; probably only 100 or so in the audience, baffling for a band that toured all over the globe last year including sell-out performances in the US, UK, Australia, and Japan. It wasn't because the tickets were outpriced either. I hardly spent ten bucks including my gate fees, drinks, and taxi money in a city known for high prices. 

Egypt 80 led off a bit after 11:00 pm with Fela’s Dog Eat Dog and then proceeded through a warm-up set of an hour and a quarter, with Showboy vocalizing and directing the horns. Seun came on at about 12:30 am dressed in red pants. The crowd was..shall we say…interesting? First a big rat ran across the dance floor, then an older woman in full-length local garb and high headdress got out front and danced wildly, at one point flinging her headdress, bag, and shoes onto the middle of the floor, collapsing, then getting back up and continuing to dance for the rest of the night. A whole lot of people were taking poor quality hand phone videos of the show, which never cases to baffle me since the quality is worse than a 1980s VHS camcorder, but nobody seems to care. 

Highlights of the set included the frenetic and always-crowd-pleasing Zombie, then Seun’s rap preceding Slave Masters, where he compared locals working for multinationals down in Lekki with slaves living in master’s house in exchange for an easier life than their brethren. 3% of Nigerians thinking everything is fine. About 2:00 am Seun rapped about Kalakuta; this week was the anniversary of the 1977 police attack on Fela’s compound that left Fela with broken bones and his mother beaten so badly that she would ultimately die from her injuries. That led into the première of a new composition dedicated to Kalakuta. Here is a somewhat fuzzy Zoom recording of the world première piece, which hopefully will spur you on both to see Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 live on tour and to buy their next recording.

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.

Zombie, Oh Zombie

Seun Kuti, Fela in the Background

Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 played their first post-Felabration gig at the New Africa Shrine in Lagos last night. The crowd was sparse since it was the long Sallah holiday weekend when many people travel out of the city, and besides much of the local musical energy had been spent earlier in the month. Seun and Egypt 80 had just played at the Shrine a week ago - their Felabration set didn't start until the middle of the night and I couldn't get anyone to go out into the daunting Lagos midnight to catch the show with me. What I missed last Saturday was that, unannounced, elder brother Femi Kuti sat in with Seun and their father's band, apparently the first time Femi has played with Egypt 80 in 15 years and the first time Fela's two sons played together with their father's band in Lagos since Fela's death in 1997. It was videoed by Sahara TV and can be seen on Youtube (my bandwidth here in Nigeria is terrible and I hope I will actually get to watch it one of these days). 

Last night was good for the listener as the smaller crowd made the Shrine more pleasant than usual. The show started at 11:00 pm. Showboy led the band through a longer-than-planned warm-up set since Seun did not appear until about 1:00 am. He kicked off with Fela's Zombie, his customary (and exciting) set opener. It was a good one, channeling his father on alto sax and vocals as well as in the hilarious Zombie dance. In the subsequent hour and a half I stayed around, Seun only played one other tune and had just started on a third when I left due to the late hour. He gives his band mates plenty of room to stretch out, plays a strong and confident alto, and in general has continued Fela's jazzy, improvisatory approach to afrobeat that keeps the music fresh and interesting. Having Fela's original rhythm section anchor the band doesn't hurt either.

Egypt 80's Rhythm Section - These Guys Played With Fela. No Wonder Egypt 80 Sounds So Good.

Showboy had been at my house earlier in the day for my weekly Afrobeat lesson and we worked on Zombie at my behest. I had jumped in a bit over my head; I found the tune impossible to master instantly and have been working on it for a couple of weeks just to get it under my fingers. The tempo is killer and on tenor sax, the primary lick jumps up and down across the break at high speed. Thanks to the marvel of modern digital technology, I slowed the 1977 album track down to 80% until I got my fingers moving and then sped it back up to 100% after about a hundred iterations. The instrumentals sound OK at slow speed but the vocals are just wrong! By the end of the day I got it, finally, finally. Showboy is a hard taskmaster since he was there at the creation of the original and I really had a sense of accomplishment when he smiled and said I could stop for now.

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.

Fela's Legend Lives On - Seun Kuti and Egypt 80

Seun Kuti at the New Africa Shrine - Fela's Musical Legacy

Yesterday was the last Saturday of August, time for Fela Kuti's youngest son Seun to bring Egypt 80 to the New Africa Shrine for his monthly midnight gig. 29-year old Seun and the band just returned from touring Europe and Japan a few weeks ago and this was their first Lagos gig in three months. The 500 Naira gate fee at the Shrine is one-tenth or less of what international fans pay to see Seun on tour.

Another Direct Link to Fela - Showboy Leading Egypt 80

I came in as Showboy was putting the band through a meticulous sound check; as a saxophonist he balances the horns particularly well so each instrument's part can be picked out cleanly from the audience. The warm-up set started just after 11:00pm with Showboy leading the group through about half a dozen numbers lasting 90 minutes. Seun came out at 12:30am and started wailing on alto sax; like brother Femi he has mastered circular breathing. I stayed until 3:00am and Seun was still going strong when I left, having removed his shirt right before I split which makes him look uncannily like his father. 

Seun gives lots of solo room to his musicians and there is plenty of improvisation by the horns. Egypt 80's current standout soloist is the baritone saxophonist, following in the tradition of Fela's band's being anchored by a strong baritonist. Showboy held down that chair until his accident three years ago. Click to hear Mister Big Thief performed live on Saturday night. 

Seun continues his father's political activism. The topic of the night was the new 5,000 Naira note announced recently by Nigeria's central bank. The largest note is currently 1,000 Naira; most Nigerians I talked to think the new large-denomination note is a bad idea and expect inflation to follow rapidly. Why is a 5,000 Naira note even needed when 90% of Nigerians live below the poverty line and the minimum wage is 18,000 Naira (just over $100) per month? Corruption is rife, commonly thought to be more widespread now than when Fela was alive, and the corrupt typically keep large stashes of cash packed away in Ghana Must Gos. The new notes will make it more convenient to store and transport large amounts of cash. 

The new 5,000 Naira note will feature a picture of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Fela's mother and Seun's grandmother, a noted women's rights activist. Seun said that nobody consulted the family about this. Ironically, Funmilayo died as the result of being thrown of a second-story window at Kalakuta by Government forces in 1977. The family never received compensation nor even an apology. Seun told the audience that he prefers justice for his grandmother and they can keep the money.

Learning to Play Afrobeat First Hand

Getting the chance to learn to play afrobeat first hand in Lagos. Had two successive days of learning side-by-side with excellent players. 

First, finally got Showboy to come by and teach me some of Fela Kuti's music. Showboy is a legend from the years he spent anchoring Fela's horn section on baritone sax, and he is an encyclopedic repository of original afrobeat which he learned directly from its inventor and master. The music is all up in his head rather than written down on charts, scores and fake sheets. You can't buy a book of Fela sheet music anywhere to my knowledge. Showboy is currently music director of Egypt 80 which backs Fela's youngest son Seun Kuti. 

Showboy was injured badly in a hit and run accident in Lagos about three years ago and can't hold a sax because of damage to his left hand. He sure can sing, though, and he taught me Dog Eat Dog and Trouble Sleeps by scatting the themes and horn backing parts while I picked out the notes on my tenor. After about 90 minutes I had both down well enough to take a break before my brain exploded. I wasn't that familiar with Trouble Sleeps so we listened to it on iTunes a few times to catch the theme. Showboy taught it to me in Eb but the recording seems to be in Db so I had to transpose to match the record. It is all in the timing and phrasing and it is a challenge to play without a rhythm section - Showboy helped me by counting out the beats and conducting my entrances. 

Then last night, Femi Kuti's tenor player Dotsax came by and we jammed freely for an intense nonstop hour. He just got his horn out and started playing and of course I didn't have my Zoom on and missed recording our jam, given the choice between playing along or messing around with the recording equipment. He's a quiet guy and didn't say a word so I had to chase him entirely by ear, which worked out pretty well in the end. Spoke through our horns. Before he left he wrote down some patterns for me to practice, but of course he wrote them in DO-RE-MI format which I now have to convert to C-D-E or 1-2-3 before I can play them since I never learned the European notation system. Something clicked and patterns suddenly made sense as Dotsax has a Coltrane kind of sound. Our styles contrast as I tend to play more melodies and backing riffs than he does but he plays a whole lot more notes than I do. And plays them very well, I might add.

Dotsax - Tenor Saxophonist Dotun Bankole

Dotun "Dotsax" Bankole

Currently featured in the tenor sax spot in Femi Kuti's Positive Force band is 36-year-old hornman Dotun Bankole, aka Dotsax. The band just returned from its summer tour of England, France, and Spain and I had the chance to catch up with Dotsax at the Africa Shrine in Lagos last Thursday during Femi's rehearsal.

We spent a couple of hours jamming on Saturday afternoon and in between the music I was able to explore Dotun's musical interests and background, on top of jamming on one of his original tunes, Coltrane's Africa, some blues and some free explorations.

The Silver Mark VI

Dotsax started on trumpet rather late in life, at age 19 or 20, and played until his trumpet was stolen at age 24. He switched to sax because he had access to one, and learned it by practicing 12 hours a day for six months. His interests started with highlife but he found himself fascinated by jazz after fellow musicians introduced him to the sounds of Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and Sonny Rollins. He's played with Nigerian masters like Peter King and attributes his current sound to the music he heard in his village growing up plus his fascination with jazz improvisation. Over the past decade he fronted his own band with his brother on keys, although the jazz scene in Nigeria is rather limited. Around nine years ago word was that Femi Kuti was looking for him, and four years ago he finally joined Femi's band full time. He's been touring and recording with Femi ever since and you can catch him and his silver Mark VI on stage at the Shrine on Thursdays and Sundays. 

In addition to his regular gigs backing Femi, Dotsax wants to develop his own original music with a group of his own that offers more room for improvisation. At our jam Saturday he showed easy fluency on tenor and instinctive harmonic knowledge, no problem ripping off interesting and coherent unaccompanied solos. He and I discussed a shared idea of recording a further fusion of jazz and afrobeat and I hope that can come to fruition in the next year. Listen to Dotsax perform a couple of his original compositions here on his MySpace site, which also contains a detailed bio.

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.

Nigeria's Graceland - Fela's House to be a Museum

I was invited by Showboy to Egypt 80's rehearsal today at Fela Kuti's old house off Allen Avenue in the Ikeja district of Lagos. This was to be their last rehearsal before I leave for a trip back to Malaysia and Seun Kuti takes the band to Europe for a month-long summer tour.

I arrived at the house at 7 Gbemisola St. to find an industrial generator booming and a jackhammer pounding away. The place was a construction site. The band was inside with their instruments but other than warm-ups no music was being played; it was way too noisy. Showboy was at the keys composing a tune on notebook paper.

Apparently today's start of renovation work was just as much a surprise to the band as to me. The Kuti family has decided to turn Fela's Kalakuta into a museum for the public. Much restoration needs to be done and the work just started. Knowing that construction always takes longer than expected (and in Nigeria things usually take even longer than that), a date for the museum's opening cannot yet be predicted. But soon, Fela's Kalakuta will become Nigeria's Graceland.

Although the rehearsal did not come off as anticipated, I got to meet and exchange stories with the Egypt 80 band members and look through some of the relics left in the house, such as Fela's shoe cabinet (!) and a couple of old Selmer baritone saxes that needed total restoration. These were the Series II baris that Showboy told me about, one of them being the one he used to record his solo on Pangsa Pangsa. I even got to use Fela's facilities.

The house itself was a three-story concrete construction ca.1979. Fela apparently moved in around 1981 upon his release from prison (or should I say one of his releases from prison). It was a big house but didn't really stand out in this urban neighbourhood, and it was a far cry from the Beverly Hillbillies-style mansion you would associate with a big international star. Fela is buried on the grounds; his pyramid-shaped marble mausoleum is sited in the front yard.

Showboy and I went around the corner for lunch at a very local restaurant and sitting across from us at the shared table was a man, a musician, who remembered Showboy from Fela's house in 1974. 38 years ago. Good memory.

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's Tales of Touring with Fela Kuti

Rilwan "Showboy" Fagbemi recounted tales from being on tour with Fela Kuti while we listened to Femi Kuti's band rehearse at the New Africa Shrine in Lagos on June 14:

You see, music the way I see it, there is no difference between music and some of the international conferences, because at the conference point some will speak wisely, some will speak weakly, and some will speak ignorantly because they don't know what they are saying, and they will be contemplating on believing that is the right thing because is their expression... 

I had one experience, we were having a show in Washington DC and we were coming from Milan, 68 piece band travelling from Europe to America. When we got to Milan airport they could only get the seats on Pan Am Airlines, 60 seat, not 65 seat. Fela now say to me, "What do I do? Some will have to wait and join the flight tomorrow morning." So I choose to stay, he gave me the passport of 5 people and gave me money to take them out of the airport and find a hotel, and 5:00 AM we come back to the airport for a 6:00 AM flight. So, I came out of the airport and find a taxi and told him to take us to a hotel. I said, "How far is the hotel from here?" and he said "35 to 40 kilometers." So I gave him one of Fela's cassettes. 

When he started driving he said, "I'm sorry, man, something is happening around here." That's the driver. He said "This is what's happening." He said he had just heard this song that his daughter was requesting as her birthday present, that he had searched for the song, and for us to give him the cassette. I told him "Let's get to the hotel, let's find the hotel before we can talk about your daughter." You know, because of that song that this guy heard on my tape. Imagine somebody looking for a hotel from here and before we can find a hotel we got to Eleko Beach. Imagine the distance. So when we finally found the hotel, I now told him that "I understand your daughter need my tape, but before I can give you this tape, you have to come and pick me tomorrow back to the airport. Then I will give you the tape." He said "No problem." So he left us at the hotel. 

So about an hour later I couldn't sleep in my room. I took a shower, I took my clarinet, I walked down the street, I walked like from here to Ikeja bus stop. I found this night club, there was a live band, a triplet. They were having fun, people were drinking, so when I got there I said I am at the right place. I now went to the stage and introduced myself, we started playing my own kind of music. You won't believe it, I was given like 5 liters of wine, they were just bringing it, I had wine from the hotel owner, I had wine from the audience. So at the end of the day I ended up spending about 5 hours there, so by the time I left this place for my hotel it was 4:30. I had to shower and get ready by 5:00. I now joined him, he took us up to the airport. You won't believe it, this guy was so desperate about the tape that he said if I only give him the tape, he doesn't need the money, but if he doesn't get the tape as a birthday present for his daughter, there is a problem. I had to give him the tape. 

On that day we were having two shows in Washington. we were supposed to have two shows, so by the time I got to the airport we took a flight from Milan to New York, so when we got to New York there was Paul Troutman waiting for me, he worked with Gordon Mayer, 20th Century Fox. They were there waiting for me to pick me up. So he took me - I just saw my name on a sign - "Showboy" - I told them "I am Showboy." They said "We are here to pick you and four other guys." I said "We are all out," so they took us, they said "The limos are outside." They took us with the limo from JFK, they drove us to LaGuardia Airport where they bought tickets for us and put us on a flight to Washington. When I got to Washington, there was another limo waiting to pick me up. 

So when the limo took me from the front of the Constitution Hall in Washington, Fela was balancing the first tenor saxophone. He has finished with the trumpet and fluegel, he has finished with the alto, he was doing the tenor and from the tenor he would be doing the baritone. I was changing my dress in the vehicle at the door of the Constitution Hall outside. So by the time I came in Fela was about finished when he heard BOM!...he say "What's that?" Somebody told him it's Showboy..."They are here?" I said, "Yes, I want to do my balance"...he was very, very happy. Now we were on time. I did the sound check and we went for the show. We played at the Constitution Hall in Washington DC and we played at the Kilimanjaro, Kilimanjaro nightclub in Washington. It was BAAAD.

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.

How Fela's Kalakuta Republic Got Its Name - Part 2

As told by Egypt 80 baritone saxophonist Rilwan "Showboy" Fagbemi - continued from yesterday's post.

Showboy: Finally they arrested everybody, but Fela was mercilessly beaten, broken head, he had about 17 stitches on his head - gun butt - they broke his hand, they broke his leg, dislocate his arm. I and Fela were the last people they put in the lorry, we were together in the lorry, he was covered in his own blood, in his [under]pants, no trousers. That was how they took us to Lagos, Alagbon Close, by Passport Office. 

So, on our way, when they took us, they took us to Barracks Police Station, they didn't accept us, they now took us straight to Lion Building, at Lion Building there was not enough space to keep all of us so they now took us to Alagbon . When we got to Alagbon they asked, before we got to Alagbon Fela's mother has made some important calls and some moves, that you cannot lock my son in his pool of blood, you have to take him to hospital, or if he dies it is on you. So they quickly made arrangements, they took Fela to Falomo Police Hospital. 

We were locked up at Alagbon, so they kept us at Alagbon. We were there, we were at the counter, then there was this police officer, a senior police officer who was driving out, he said "Who are those people?" Then the policeman says "They are Fela's people, those Indian hemp smokers blah blah blah." He said "Why are you keeping them there? They are too much. put them in Kalakuta cell." That was how we discovered there was a cell called Kalakuta cell at Alagbon Close. 

So after 2 weeks, 2-1/2 weeks at Alagbon we were released on bail, Fela's lawyer managed to secure our bail. Fela was already bailed and taken home by his mother on Monday. So when we got home and told him our experiences they now said they should change the name of the organization, to the house, from Fela's house to the Kalakuta Republic. So that was how the house was named Kalakuta, and Kalakuta Republic became another government problem because when they burned the house they claimed that Fela had declared his own republic in Nigeria, Kalakuta Republic. 

Ron: Has anyone ever written that story? 

Showboy: A lot of people don't know it, just some few that maybe I might have told or that has heard it, but it is not everybody that knows it because it is a story of about 38 years, '74. 1974, and we are in 2012. 

(Power Show comes on the PA system and Showboy sings along). All this, I recorded them with Fela. Power Show. {click to listen} 

I and Fela were the last people they put in the lorry...  

(Power Show playing in background) You know Fela is very selective when it comes to playing solo in music. He wrote the music and he wants an expression of the mind, not trying to play what someone else has played. When you do that you are not creative. The band it is not everybody who plays solos because some people have been on that stage for years they never came out to play solo, yes. Because they wouldn't even dare it because Fela, what Fela expect from everybody who goes there to improvise: 1, to be good; 2, to understand the music, not just play any shit. You have to create something for that music that you will not play in another track, so every track has its feel. When you are playing that, you are good, Ron; if you don't do that you know there is no way you will play with Fela and you will not be creative because you are hearing something new every time. And it was, you know it was to a state, is that the competition, who is good who is bad, yeah, because you have some people that go to the house to tell Fela, "Fela, why don't you allow me to play solo on this track." Then he will tell them "OK, I will try you." When he now comes to the Shrine after starting the music he will tell us to "Wait, let him improvise." The moment he start he look at him "What is he playing? Push him away from here." From then he will come to the stage and push you out of there. But, you know, if you come there, if you are doing good with the music, you will see him move his body, dancing, then he will not concentrate any more on you because he knows you are there. But when you are not there, AWWWW.

(Showboy sings along with Power Show) {end of interview}

How Fela's Kalakuta Republic Got Its Name

The story of how Fela Kuti's Kalakuta Republic got its name was recounted to me by Rilwan "Showboy" Fagbemi in our second interview at the New Africa Shrine in Lagos on June 7, 2012.

Ron: So what are we going to talk about today? 

Showboy: Part of my Kalakuta experience. We all talk about Kalakuta but not all of us know how we came about Kalakuta. Because that name was the name that we got from the police cell, from detention. I remember it well, it was in early '74. 1974. You know, we were at Fela's house, at 14A Agege Motor Road...so one day, there was this guy who was passing by. They had been searching for his kid sister for some weeks, they never knew where she was; they were looking for her all over Lagos until this guy, he was passing by Fela's house and he saw his junior sister walk out of Fela's house. The girl was very afraid of him, he was like an oppressor to her, so whenever she sees him she lose control of herself because you know, the fear in her. This guy called her and said "Where have you been all these days?" He started beating her. And in our own house we have a law that says you do not beat women, whatever she does, come and report her, she may be punished more than what you expect but don't touch her. So this guy, supposed to be a strange boy, was beating one of the inhabitants of the house and the boys at the gate and some of the gate men they rushed there, they beat the hell out of him, they beat the shit out of him. He ran away. They rescued the girl and the girl went back to the house. 

So 24 hours later this woman came with the boy claiming, asking, she wants to see Fela, she is the mother of that girl in Fela's house, that she has been searching for her daughter for the past three months, nobody knew the daughter was living in Fela's house. So when she came they told her Fela was sleeping, that she should come back. When she came back this woman told Fela "I am searching for my daughter Folake." And in the house we have two Folake. We have Folake Oladenge and one Folake Oladego. 

So Fela said, "OK, your daughter in my house? Call all the girls." So Fela said, "You are looking for your daughter in my house, call all the girls in the house." They called everybody. "Madam, where is your daughter?" She looked round and said "That is my daughter." So Fela asked the girl, "Is that your mother?" She said "Yes but I don't want to go with her. They are maltreating me, that's why I left the house." Fela said "You heard her, I didn't put an advert sign outside that I am in need of women in my house or anybody in my house. My house welcomes anybody who comes to my house, nobody is invited but anybody who comes is welcomed, he or she is welcome." The woman said she is the wife of a police commissioner and the girl blah blah...Fela said "You heard what the girl said. Yes, you are her mother but she doesn't want to go with you. Do you want me to chain her and hand you the rope so you can drag her home by force or what? I can't do that." That was how the woman left. 

The next day, the next morning, at about 6:00 AM, we saw about 45 policemen. They surrounded the house but they didn't touch anybody. People were going in and coming out. They didn't say anything. Nobody knew their intention or what they had in mind or what plan is next, you know. So people were going, doing their normal business, going in and out as usual. So at about 1:45 (PM) we heard the sirens blaring from far away WAH WAH WAH WAH WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA WOOOOO. 

When they got closer to our house we got to know that there were lorry fulls of riot policemen led by the father of one of the girls, the police commissioner. They came to the gate: "Mr. Kuti open your door." Fela said, "I need to see a search warrant." They say "You will open the door or we will force it." They couldn't force the gate open and the house was, you know, we had barbed wire that surrounded the house and all the barbed wire was nailed on some 4 x 2 inch wood so they didn't know how to break in. They now sent some of the policemen to go and buy cutlasses. They started chopping the sticks so they could break into the compound. Fela was standing looking at them. By the time they succeeded at cutting one side, they started jumping into the compound, started making arrests. They threw more than 250 canisters of tear gas, to the extent within this length from where he is sitting (across the table) to here you wouldn't see anything other than white, to tell you how many canisters of tear gas they already shot into the compound.

(to be continued)

Fela's Musicians - Interview with Rilwan "Showboy" Fagbemi, Part 7

Showboy at the New Africa Shrine with Femi Kuti's band (and some of Femi's kids)

Showboy: I repair saxophones. I repaired Fela's saxophones. If anything happens to your horn, I can fix it. (interrupted by phone call) 

Ron: This young guy plays the bari now. 

Showboy: He took over from me when I had the accident [Showboy was nearly killed in Lagos by a hit and run driver in 2009, and the injuries have suspended his saxophone playing career for now]. He was a tenor saxophone player.

My baritone is Series II Selmer. I have a friend in Atlanta, he just sent me an Armstrong tenor saxophone from Atlanta. I've got it at home, Seun brought it from America. When I go to New York, I have this guy, Rod Baltimore you know him? New York instrument repairer, 47th by 9th Avenue in Manhattan, New York, Rod Baltimore, it's one of the biggest instrument repair shops. 

My Series II, Henri Selmer did only 15, out of the 15 Fela got 2, I was asked to sell my Series II for the (name unclear) Theater in New York , they wanted it bad because there was no more. When you go down, the lower you go, the bigger the sound. 

Ron: (showing photos of my daughter Jackie playing sax at a gig) 

Showboy: She's playing alto here. Wow. It's like this girl, what's her name, she is a tenor saxophone player, she used to play for Burning Spear...Jennifer Hill, Jenny, we played together, we played Reggae Sunsplash together. She was a tenor saxophone player. Freakin' people out man. She got the strength from you. She saw you do it. That's why she can do it better. 

Ron: So when is your next gig? 

Showboy: The last Saturday of the month. Once a month. The Shrine. Once a month. 

Ron: When are you touring next? 

Showboy: Well, the band, they are touring, they are going on the 28th. I cannot move yet, I am still under care, under medical care. I have to stay home, take care of my body until my hand, until I can play my instrument, I am an instrumentalist, without my instrument I am nothing. 

Ron: What other music venues around Lagos still play Afrobeat? I really don't care too much for the newer styles of music. 

Showboy: There is this brass band, they play Afrobeat, and sometimes I sing with them. They are performing tonight in Lagos, in the city of Lagos. They just sent me a message, I got it. Eko Brass Band. There are places you can play your saxophone. In Lagos you can play the saxophone, the beach side, you can have a good time. 

Ron: When I don't touch my horn I feel like a baby. 

Showboy: That's it, this feeling, this relationship between yourself and your saxophone, I always say, my saxophone is my first wife. Without my saxophone I'm nowhere. Sometimes, my saxophone change my orientation, my thinking, my mood. 

Ron: I thought it was just me. I tell people I have a relationship with my saxophone and they think I'm crazy.  

Showboy: No, no, they don't know, they cannot understand, they cannot. Let e tell you something the saxophone if you touch it every time you discover new things every time. If you don't touch it, if you stay away from it, if you don't touch it you get disappointed. Because the moment you come back to it, it won't be as you left it. You have to work hard to achieve that standard. 

Ron: Crazy bent brass tube. It's a genius invention. 

Showboy: You're damn right. 

There was a day when we were talking with Fela, he now asked me "Did you listen to Art Pepper?" That was the question he asked me. He said "Showboy, go and listen to Art Pepper." I did. He said I sound and I play like Art Pepper, on baritone. A BAAD motherfucker. [end of interview]

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 - Photos

Seun blows plenty-o

The spitting image of his father, minus shirt

I borrowed a Nikon D80 from a colleague and took a couple of hundred photos of Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 in action during their awesome performance at the Africa Shrine in Lagos on May 26. I've put up two sets of photos on Flickr - click to see the first set featuring Seun Kuti and the second set featuring Egypt 80.