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.

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.

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.

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.