Monday, July 05, 2010

Win a copy of Fela! on Broadway

"Water No Get Enemy" from FELA! Original Broadway Cast Recording from Fela Kuti on Vimeo.



Fela Kuti's name has appeared MANY times in my posts, and I've written several specifically about him (or his son in one case) as well. That being said, when I found out that there was going to be a Broadway show written about his life, I was thrilled. When I found out that there was a cast soundtrack being released, it made it a little less painful not having had a chance to actually get to see the show yet. When I heard the recording, it made me want to go see the show 10X as much. It's that powerful.

I first mentioned the musical in November of last year when I wrote about the reissue of The Best Of the Black President from Knitting Factory Records. At the time I was hoping on getting into NYC to see it in December. Unfortunately that never happened, but listening to the cast recording has me making plans to see it this summer for sure. It's a mixture of Kuti songs and original numbers that tell the story of the man behind Afrobeat, and the backing musicians are the group Antibalas, so you know that they know what they're doing! It's got me super excited both about the show and about Kuti's music in general again.

Can't get into NYC to catch the show? Well leave a comment (or email me) with your name and email address and you'll be in the running for a copy of the Broadway Cast Recording. I'll pick a winner next Mondayish and send it to you pronto!


check out this original number from the show:


and a Fela Kuti original that the cast performs on stage:



Visit the album's label Knitting Factory Records and the show's official website.

3 comments:

Erica said...

I think I've heard this!

Sean said...

You certainly have ;)

Kris.G said...

Great songs to choose. The show was amazing when I saw it a number of months ago and this music puts me right back in that theater watching Fela perform his last show in Nigeria with so much heart.

kris.g@bridgingtheverse.com