Frank Bessem's Musiques d'Afrique / Nigeria : Femi Kuti

Femi Kuti
(Nigeria)

Frank Bessem's Musiques d'Afrique

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Biography

In 1978, Femi Kuti started playing alto sax in the band of his father, the great Fela Kuti. When Fela was put in prison in 1984 for a period of two years, the young Femi had become band leader in his father's absence. After Fela's return, his son left and created his own group, the Positive Force. He continued in the same Afrobeat style, but his songs were shorter and and his lyrics less provocative.

At first, Femi Kuti had to work very hard to work up against the reputation of his father, and he was always compared to his father. Gradually, recognition came, and by the mid 1990s, his reputation was established and he could tour around the world.

After the death of his father in 1997, Femi was seen as the inheritor of Afrobeat. Indeed, over the years, he has grown into an artist in his own right, criticizing and addressing issues such as AIDS, or the disastrous policies of African rulers.

At the wake of the new century, he returned to return to Lagos to reconstruct The Shrine, a musical venue, inspired on his father's project, destroyed. The album « Africa Shrine » was recorded there.

In 2008, a new studio album « Day by Day », recorded in Paris, came out and was well received and seen as one of his best albums. « Africa for Africa » is his latest album, this time recorded in Lagos, in the old studio where his first album, but also many albums by his father were recorded. Less polished, Femi's words are more agressive and vindicative than before.

Born: 16 June 1962, in Lagos
Style: Afro-beat

Album cover 'Shoki Shoki'

Discography

Title	Year	Label	Remarks
Africa for Africa	2010	Wrasse Records WRASS 282
Day by Day	2008	Wrasse Records WRASS 228
The Definitive Collection	2007	Wrasse Records WRASS 186	2 CD compilation
Africa Shrine	2004	Mk2 Music (F)/UWe; Tropical Music (D)	Live studio recording
Best of Femi Kuti	2004	Barclay	Also: Wrasse Records WRASS 136
Fight to Win	2001	Barclay	Also: Wrasse Records WRASS 042
Shoki Remixed	2000	Nuphonic NUX145CD
Shoki Shoki	1999	Talkin Loud 559035-2
Femi Anikulapo Kuti & the Positive Force	1996	Mélodie 34002-2
Femi Kuti	1995	Tabu 314530477-2
M.Y.O.B.	1991	Kalakuta KALP 12
No cause for alarm?	1989	Polygram POLP 201

Page created November 2002

Femi Kuti(Nigeria)

Frank Bessem's Musiques d'Afrique

Femi Kuti
(Nigeria)