Fela Ransome - Kuti And The Africa - 70 - Fela's London Scene download mp3 flac

For a general overview of Fela’s work, please see my review for Sakara (Oloje), by which I stand … … Fela’s London Scene comes at you more full throttled and more angular, giving rise to fantasies of James Brown and his epic deliveries. Yet I for one enjoy his less intense material, where the track “J’ehin J’ehin” rides nicely in my back pocket, sending me on an adventure that I’m sure will last years, a quest of sorts to comb through the rest of his catalog, creating a compilation of Aftrobeats I can most relate to, and not just on a musical level.Having spent much time in the UK, Fela recorded this gem at the Abbey Road Studios, though by 1971, the Beatles were all but whispered ghosts in those hallowed halls. On a whole, the album is very immediate, very muscular and masculine, imparting a sense of urgency as it ventures down the path of spoken (or shouted) word. There is little to be found here that’s intoxicating, with Fela’s structures leaving me with the image of a headlong drive down the wrong side of the road. Each of the songs appear to have been commingled from a collection of partially scripted thoughts, as if the dust and rain of Africa were clay in a musical potter’s hands, where he was breathing life into this combination of inanimate elements, infusing them with the spirit of birth through enunciation.Again, the percussions set the place and lead the way throughout all of this album, though as if with emphasis, Fela nearly punches his way through most of the material with brass notes that come across with a piercing sonic intensity that I could not get used to … certainly very experimental and innovative. (laughing) With that in mind, I wonder if there is anyone out there who’s been so smitten with these sounds that they’ve collected his nearly fifty albums, as it would seem to me that they would become rather repetitive rather quickly.One of the most common vocalizations regarding all of Fela’s releases is some variation of, “I’m not sure what to make of this, but I like it,” which of course would compel me to question the dialectic nature of the music and those whose ears are taking it in. Of primary interest to me is, who is Fela speaking to, what message is he relaying, and how is that message being both heard and perceived? This music is not jazz or soul or even funk in its purer forms, this music is both politically and quasi-religiously manifested and motivated, delivered for maximum effect from repeated listens, where the subversive nature of these overtures will seep in gradually over time until the manifesto is heeded and taken to heart. I am not comfortable here, nor have I been comfortable with most of Fela’s deliveries, where I select songs based not only on their musical structure, but on their sociological nature, where there is much found within these grooves to be avoided and disrespected.Review by Jenell Kesler

Fela himself on his album "Shuffering and Shmiling" said "You Africans, please listen to me as Africans, and you non-Africans please listen to me with open mind." His lyrics were primarily aimed at Nigerians, Africans. But the fact that his records are still admired and played all over the world means that his work transcended the cultural content. At the very least, you might have specifically cited the "sociological nature...found within these grooves to be avoided and disrespected." Maybe you refuse to listen to James Brown for the very same reasons, which is your right. But I would argue that music from an entirely different culture from nearly 50 years ago might get a pass if it doesn't exactly match your own cultural expectations and preferences, barring calls to violence.You wonder if anyone has been so smitten as to collect all of his albums because you apparently strain to imagine a world in which someone could become accustomed to what you could not. People who don't like reggae say it all sounds the same. People who don't like disco say it all sounds the same. People who don't like heavy metal say it all sounds the same. So whether or not you have a problem with Afrobeat becoming "rather repetitive rather quickly" depends on whether or not you like what's repeating. It's all Afrobeat. Even as it evolved, it remained Afrobeat. To each their own, of course. "Fela's structures" leave you with "the image of a headlong drive down the wrong side of the road." Maybe you've mistaken yourself for the passenger, but you're the pilot.