#402 of 500
· Rolling Stone
Expensive Shit
Fela Kuti and Africa 70
Year
1975
Genre
Soul/R&BLabel
Kalakuta
Format
Vinyl LP
“There's a case that Expensive Shit deserves to be higher, but #402 is solid company. Fela Kuti and Africa 70's work here (1975) is the kind of thing that makes you play both sides twice. The Kalakuta pressing is the way in.”
Fela Kuti (1938-1997) was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, and political activist who revolutionized African popular music. In the early 1970s, he formed Africa 70, one of the most influential and tightest ensembles in world music history. The band featured a powerful horn section, intricate rhythmic grooves, and Fela's distinctive baritone vocals, creating the Afrobeat sound that blended West African highlife, jazz, funk, and traditional Yoruba rhythms. Albums like 'Zombie' (1976) and 'Gentleman' (1975) showcased the band's virtuosity while serving as scathing political commentaries on corruption and oppression in Nigeria. Fela's fearless criticism of the Nigerian military government made him both a cultural icon and a target for state harassment, yet he remained committed to using music as a vehicle for social change until his death.
Style
Afrobeat is characterized by dense, syncopated horn arrangements, polyrhythmic percussion, funky bass lines, and call-and-response vocal structures. Fela's compositions layer multiple rhythmic patterns simultaneously, creating hypnotic grooves that emphasize collective musicianship over traditional song structures.
Significance
Fela Kuti and Africa 70 are essential for vinyl collectors studying African music's global influence and the intersection of political activism with popular music. Their original pressings, particularly on Knitting Factory and Stern's African Records, are highly sought after and represent a pinnacle of world music recording and arrangement artistry.
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