Fela Kuti Birthday Bash & Tribute October 14, 2006

It’s Fela all night! And for lovers of Afrobeat, it can’t get any better. Celebrating Fela’s 68th birthday the Ashkenaz way, two heavy funk bands provide the live music, and DJ Jeremiah takes care of connecting with Fela’s greatest recordings.

Fela Anikulapo Kuti (1938-1997) was Nigeria’s (and all of Africa’s) most outrageous and political musician, a fearless human rights leader who stood up to his own government and declared his home compound a separate nation, resulting in multiple imprisonments. And oh yes, he was also the founder of Afrobeat. Putting heavy James Brown soul into African rhythms in a big band context, amping up the guitars and drums and especially the horns, Fela created a churning stew of hot dance music as he sang and blew sax. His legacy continues; he is still an international favorite, and his tracks are relentlessly sampled by a new generation of hip-hop artists.

Vocalist and bandleader Victor Sila Mutungi’s AfroFunk Experience has a debut CD, “The Funkiest Man in Africa,” but Sila demurs, “I am not the funkiest man in Africa. Fela Kuti is the funkiest man in Africa. He’s also the most important political musician of that region and, personally, my greatest musical inspiration.” In addition to musical roots in his Kenyan homeland, Sila mixes in Nigerian Afrobeat, West African highlife, Zairean zouk, hip-hop and reggae, and American funk. He moved to America as an R&B singer, then relocated to San Francisco seven years ago and began reconnecting with his African musical roots. He assembled the AfroFunk Experience to play his highly charged style, heavy on the funk, with lots of guitar and horns backing his vocals delivered in Swahili and English. www.silaband.com

Babá Ken and Afro-Groove ConneXion is the newest project from Babá Ken Okulolo, the beloved leader of West African Highlife Band and Kotoja. Okulolo was first seen in the U.S. with King Sunny Ade’s African Beats. He was five times voted Nigeria’s best bassist by that country’s music journalists. Afro-Groove ConneXion also features Nigeria’s Soji Odukogbe, who was for five years the lead guitarist for Fela Kuti. The new band is a five-piece unit mixing hard-hitting Afrofunk grooves with Okulolo’s message of a better world through music.

To kick off the celebration, DJ Jeremiah will be premiering a DJ set accompanied by Afrobeat Nation, a live band consisting of seasoned musicians who grew up listening to Fela.

Tickets: $15ADV/$18DOOR
Available: at: http:ticketweb.com
More information at http://afrofunk.net or 510-525-5054
ALL AGES

Official Website: http://afrofunk.net