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Be prepared to be part of the show if you attend "Fela!" playing at the Ahmanson Theatre through Jan. 22. The acclaimed musical tells the story of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (1938-97), the Nigerian pop star who was also a political force in his native country. Set in the Shrine, a famed Nigerian nightclub of the 1970s, "Fela!" has an infectious energy as it plays like part concert, part history, part dance extravaganza with very little story, which speaks to both the strengths and the weakness of this musical. An eight-piece band plays on the colorful stage of reds and greens and yellow as the audience files in. They are then joined by a dancer who literally shakes her tail, dressed in what can only be described as something like a tribal go-go outfit. The rest of the cast then wanders out and, eventually, the man himself emerges. He is played by a dynamic Sahr Ngaujah. It takes a charismatic performer to portray someone like Kuti, the sax-playing, singing dynamo (you can check him out on YouTube), and Ngaujah is as close as you are going to get to the real thing. His first number is the electrifying "Everything Scatter," a Kuti song. It's followed by "B.I.D." or "Breaking It Down," an explanation of the innovator's musical style and influences, which include the likes of James Brown. Afrobeat is a fusion of Latin jazz, funk and African percussive and Nigerian guitar sounds. The show has additional music by Aaron Johnson and Jordan McLean with lyrics by Jim Lewis. Like any great concert performer Ngaujah's Kuti engages the audience. Throughout the evening, you will be asked to take part in call-and-response musical segments and to get up and shake your own booty.
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All the while Kuti is telling his story, starting with his youth and moving on to his minister grandfather, his own days in London where he discovered John Coltrane and Frank Sinatra, a trip to the United States where he learned of Black Power, and, most importantly, the influence of his mother, who was a political activist. It is his mother, Funmilayo (Melanie Marshall), who plays a pivotal role in the story. The concert at the Shrine, we learn, is taking place shortly after his mother was killed by government troops after they attacked his commune, beating him and many of his followers. (Kuti was a free spirit who was once married to 27 women.) The pop star had angered the government in 1977 with the release of the song "Zombie," which was a scathing attack on the military. Kuti responded to the raid by delivering his mother's coffin to the residence of dictator Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo and writing another hit song, "Coffin for Head of State," also in the show, which was critical of the government. |
Copyright, Blaise APLOGAN, 2010,© Bienvenu sur Babilown
Toute republication de cet article doit en mentionner et l’origine et l’auteur sous peine d’infraction
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