It goes without saying that the best way to remember and pay tribute to a musician, his music and legacy, is playing his tunes. That’s why every year, every 7th of October, in Lagos, like in Osaka and Reykjavik, it’s Felabration: a day, or better, a night in honour of Fela Kuti.
Like every year, London will do its part, too. On the first Friday of October, more than a dozen remarkable artists, who have always lived and breathed afrobeat and the Lagos sound of the 1970s and 80s, will gather together at the Electric Ballroom to pay their musical respects to Fela.
Dele Sosimi and his Afrobeat Orchestra, Yolanda Brown, Afrikan Boy, Terry Walker, and Tiggs Da Author are only some of the names who will go on stage playing, reinterpreting and presenting their own perspective over Fela Kuti’s songs, while the after-party and its musical selection is in the hands of afrobeat devotee, DJ Koichi Sakai.
Don’t “miss road” and head down to the Electric Ballroom: for one night, you’ll think to be at the Shrine in Lagos.
| Date | Event name | Artist | City/Town | Venue |
| 05 Jun | Afrikan Boy – PizzaExpress Live, Holborn | Afrikan Boy | London | Pizza Express Holborn |
| 08 Jun | Soul Women Unite | Yolanda Brown | London | Cadogan Hall |
| 22 Jun | Brave New World – Seun Kuti, Tony Allen + Dele Sosimi, Awesome Tapes From Africa, 47 Soul & Much More | Fela Kuti | London | Roundhouse |
![Album Review: Fela Kuti – Box Set #4 curated by Erykah Badu [Knitting Factory Records; 15th December 2017]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/a1284379874_10-620x620.jpg)
On first impressions, this is just another Fela Kuti compilation, albeit an extensive one. Dig a little deeper, though, and spend a bit more time with the music and, like any good art retrospective, there’s more to it than meets the eye. Badu’s own sensibilities shine through with her penchant…
Artists: Fela Kuti
A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to attend one of the highlights of the London’s music calendar: Amadou & Mariam. The Malian couple delighted the Koko audience presenting their brand new work Bofou Safou and performing an exciting sold-out gig supported by London born-and-bred hip-hop narrator Afrikan Boy. Here’s what we saw and…
Artists: Afrikan Boy , Amadou & Mariam
If you want to pay tribute to one of the most renowned and influential musicians, you need to do it good and proper, and that’s what Dele Sosimi and music partners staged at the Electric Ballroom for Felabration 2016. The London-based Nigerian keyboard player, accompanied by his orchestra and a…
Artists: Afrikan Boy , Bumi Thomas , Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra , Terry Walker , Tiggs Da Author , Yolanda Brown
Tonight, Woolwich born MC Afrikan Boy will hit the U.K. with his much anticipated ABCD Tour.. There’s no denying that he’s is more than ready to hit the road, with gigs scheduled up and down the country from Edinburgh’s Electric Circus to The Small Horse in Bristol. Promising to be not just…
Artists: Afrikan Boy![Album Review: Fela Ransome Kuti and His Koola Lobitos – Highlife Jazz and Afro-Soul (1963-1969) [Knitting Factory Records, 8th April 2016]](http://www.rhythmpassport.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/fela_1_b82b016f-3a39-4e47-9861-0dea82cd5baa_grande.jpg)
To sum up these three albums in a few words, would be to say that Highlife, Jazz and Afro-Soul is a journey to discover the origins of afrobeat and the Fela Kuti myth. In fact, there was a time when the Black President was ‘simply’ a music student at the Royal Trinity College of…
Artists: Fela Kuti , Fela Ransome Kuti and His Koola Lobitos
It’s not every day that you witness one of the most famous libraries in the UK (and one of the most important cultural centres in London) being transformed into the Shrine, the mythical Lagos club from which the legendary figure of Fela Kuti emerged in the late 1970s – yet…
Artists: 2face Idibia , African Boy , Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra , Laura Mvula , Shingai Shoniwa , Terry Walker , Tony Allen
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