[rating=3.50]
Fela Kuti, the outspoken Nigerian originator of afrobeat, began his highly-anticipated tour of the U.S. in the fall of 1986, two years behind schedule. It wasn’t his fault. Arrested by the Nigerian government in 1984 at the Lagos airport en route to America, Fela spent the next eighteen months in jail on a trumped-up currency charge. When he did finally arrive stateside for his first full-band appearances in over sixteen years, he was showered with public and critical acclaim. In retrospect the ‘86 tour marked the high point of Fela’s international career. No commercially available recordings from the tour have been available until now. Thanks to a fan who recorded an appearance at Detroit’s Fox Theater we can now hear Fela and his band Egypt 80 thrill the audience in a venue that once hosted legendary Motown performers.
There is plenty of music here: almost two and a half hours-worth comprised of four songs, each averaging over thirty minutes. “Just Like That,” “Confusion Break Bone,” “Teacher, Don’t Teach Me Nonsense,” and “Beasts of No Nation,” unrecorded at the time, are all solid examples of Fela’s 1980’s sound. The band features twenty musicians, including an eight-piece horn section, along with four background singers and six dancers. The four songs follow roughly the same pattern. Beginning with a slow, scintillating percussion groove layered with guitars, the songs unfold at a relaxed pace as complex arrangements of background voices and horns weave in and out. Fela contributes sparse but effective electric organ as well as sax solos. His vocals begin well into each track and are performed in Nigerian pidgin (though he addresses the crowd in standard English). Background vocals serve as a provocative counterpoint. A section of audience participation via call and response is a regular feature of each song.
Compared to Fela’s earlier work Afrika 70, the energy level of this performance is cool versus hot. The lyrics from this period are less sarcastic and event-driven. Instead, Fela addresses broad topics, such as lingering colonialism in “Teacher, Don’t Teach Me Nonsense.” Some speculate that the year and a half spent in jail before the tour, as well as the severe beating he received from soldiers in 1981, caused Fela to become more introspective. This might account for the trance-like quality of the arrangements and the somewhat solemn mood of the music overall.
The sound quality of the recording, often a weakness in bootleg recordings, is excellent. Though some PA buzzing is audible at the very beginning of some tracks, it quickly disappears once the music starts. Fela’s signature political discourses during and between songs are held to a minimum, in part because the sections between songs have been left out.
Though he never reached the level of commercial success warranted by his artistic achievement, Fela remains an international icon, continuing to influence and inspire artists today. As a document of his most important U.S. tour, Live in Detroit, 1986 is significant and well worth hearing.
