An intimate portrait of the Afrobeat legend
Fela: Kalakuta Notes is an evocative account of Fela Kuti—the Afrobeat superstar who took African music into the arena of direct action. With his antiestablishment songs, he dedicated himself to Pan-Africanism and the down-trodden Nigerian masses, or "sufferheads." In the 1970s, the British/Ghanaian musician and author John Collins met and worked with Fela in Ghana and Nigeria. Kalakuta Notes includes a diary that Collins kept in 1977 when he acted in Fela's autobiographical film, Black President. The book offers revealing interviews with Fela by the author, as well as with band members, friends, and colleagues.
For this second edition, Collins has expanded the original introduction by providing needed context for popular music in Africa in the 1960s and the influences on the artist's music and politics. In a new concluding chapter, Collins reflects on the legacy of Fela: the spread of Afrobeat, Fela's musical children, Fela's Shrine and Kalakuta House, and the annual Felabration. As the dust settles over Fela's fiery, creative, and controversial career, his Afrobeat groove and political message live on in Kalakuta Notes. Features a new foreword by Banning Eyre, an up-to-date discography by Ronnie Graham, a timeline, historical photographs, and snapshots by the author.
Foreword by Banning Eyre
Introduction
PART 1: EARLY DAYS
The Birth of Afrobeat
Joe Mensah Remembers
Fela in Ghana
Stan Plange Remembers
PART 2: CONFRONTATION
The Kalakuta Is Born
"J. B." Talks about Fela
The Kalakuta Republic
The Black President
Amsterdam and After
PART 3: RETROSPECT
Mac Tontoh on Fela
Frank Talk about Fela
Obiba Plays It Again
Smart Binete Sorts It Out
Anku Checks Out the Beat
Nana Danso Orchestrates
Some Early Afro-Fusion Pioneers
Interview with Fela
Afterthoughts and Updates
Felabrations at Home and Abroad
Chronology
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Discography
Appendix A: "Shuffering and Shmiling" Score
Index
JOHN COLLINS moved to Ghana from Britain in 1952. He has been actively involved in the wider West African music scene since 1969, as a musician, bandleader, record producer and engineer, music union executive, writer, and archivist. He is currently a professor of popular music at the University of Ghana in Legon. BANNING EYRE is the author of In Griot Time and a forthcoming book on the Zimbabwean musician Thomas Mapfumo. He is senior editor for Afropop.org.
"In sum, Collins's new edition on Fela is as multilayered and significant a document as the singer's musical contributions. It is a crucial testament about one of the world's most outspoken and radical artists, and gives deep insight into his life, music and struggles against oppression and mediocrity."
~Mike Hajimichael, Journal of World Popular Music
""Collins's book is rife with anecdotes derived from lived encounters with Fela that would simply be inaccessible to most biographers This is a wonderful read that will certainly provide insights not available elsewhere.""
~Rob Bowman, Equinox Publishing
""[A]n intricate, but highly-accessible, examination of the afrobeat superstar. Rather than presenting his reader with a specific conclusion about Fela, his musicianship, or his legacy, Collins delivers a diverse, and at times incongruous, set of perspectives, which demonstrate just how difficult it is to arrive at one.""
~Nate Plageman, African Studies Quarterly
""Fela is an essential read. Fela Kuti was a highly influential musician who developed a new musical genre, Afrobeat that has spread throughout the world. His music and political activism have influenced numerous individuals throughout the world.""
~Angel Romero, World Music Central
""In sum, Collins's new edition on Fela is as multilayered and significant a document as the singer's musical contributions. It is a crucial testament about one of the world's most outspoken and radical artists, and gives deep insight into his life, music and struggles against oppression and mediocrity.""
~Mike Hajimichael, Journal of World Popular Music
""Just as an architectural structure of bricks and mortar provides space for people to live and breathe, so African acoustic structures provide rhythmic space for you to swing, dance and improvise.""
~The Wire, Epithanies
"John Collins has given us a vibrant and multifaceted portrait of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, told by Collins himself along with many others who knew and worked with Fela. This is a wonderful addition to the literature on Fela that reveals the complexity of the man and his role as a giant of modern African music, told by someone who was on the scene with Fela in the 1970s and who knew just the right angles to pursue."
~Michael E. Veal, author of Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon
Related Books
