The Second Case of the Kalakuta Show

I am sticking with an Africa theme for the first 3 weeks of December this year. Today we hear the African sub-genre with the greatest appeal in America:  afrobeat.

Afrobeat will always be identified with Fela Kuti, the charismatic and provocative musician from Nigeria who played the greatest role in developing the afrobeat sound. 

The music scene in Nigeria in the 1960s was dominated by the highlife style... not the early jazzy highlife sound, but rather a mystical and slow brand of highlife that would later morph into the juju musical style championed by King Sunny Ade and others. Fela had worked for a while in the mid-60s to establish himself as a highlife singer, but the slow style was not suited to his temperament. Fela moved his band to Ghana in 1967 and began work to develop a new style. 2 years later Fela traveled with some band members to Los Angeles for an extended stay, where he was influenced by the heavy funk of James Brown and by the politics of the American black power movement.

When he returned to Nigeria in 1970, his energetic new afrobeat style was fully matured, and it became an instant success. Throughout the 70s and 80s Fela was one of the biggest music stars in Africa. He took multiple wives, who toured with his band as singers and dancers, and he frequently published music that was critical of the government in Nigeria. He maintained a large compound in Lagos named "Kalakuta Republik" where he lived with his wives and many band members. Many concerts were held in this compound, leading to the name of today's show.

As a musical genre, afrobeat is highly accessible for Western ears for 2 main reasons:  first, the songs tend to be anchored by a drum kit playing a rock-inspired 4/4 time signature. Second, Fela began a tradition that many other afrobeat artists followed of singing lyrics in pidgin English. 

The show set today will begin with a sampling of afrobeat-inspired songs from groups based in Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria. The second hour of today's show is devoted entirely to music from Fela.