With opening sax like a broadside to the broadside, "Kalakuta Show" places you square in the middle of the scene.
Hot and steamy, the Kalakuta Republic, Fela Kuti's compound and self-declared sovereign-nation. Inside the high walls, street-hardened men given a second chance by the Black President mingled with adventuring Western musicians and Fela's backup singers/wives.
No government will allow an individual to claim their soil belongs to his independent country, let alone the government of a notoriously brutal military dictatorship. Fela knew this, but the man courted trouble like he courted women: recklessly. On Saturday November 23, 1974 at 5 AM the police came in with batons swinging. A savage beatdown resulted, the Kalakuta Show.
Fela Kuti went to prison, bruises and all. This did not shut him up. A far worse fate still awaited Fela and those of the Republic. A story for another time.
YouTube link, Spotify link
Hot and steamy, the Kalakuta Republic, Fela Kuti's compound and self-declared sovereign-nation. Inside the high walls, street-hardened men given a second chance by the Black President mingled with adventuring Western musicians and Fela's backup singers/wives.
No government will allow an individual to claim their soil belongs to his independent country, let alone the government of a notoriously brutal military dictatorship. Fela knew this, but the man courted trouble like he courted women: recklessly. On Saturday November 23, 1974 at 5 AM the police came in with batons swinging. A savage beatdown resulted, the Kalakuta Show.
Fela Kuti went to prison, bruises and all. This did not shut him up. A far worse fate still awaited Fela and those of the Republic. A story for another time.
YouTube link, Spotify link
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