Femi Kuti & the Positive Force with Madame Gandhi
August 8 @ 9:00 pm – 11:59 pm PDT
4 years after the DVD Live@Shrine, Femi Kuti returns with a generous, powerful and timeless new album, continuing to explore and push back the frontiers of Afrobeat. With thirteen titles that grab your belly, your feet, your heart and your head, from the ghettos of Lagos to the palaces of corrupt politicians, Day by Day takes us through the winding roads of African paradox. Why is such a rich continent inhabited by the world’s poorest people?
Copying note for note his Father’s music has never been Femi’s goal. If he accompanied Fela’s musicians during his youth, he decided as early as 1986 to free himself up and create his own band. Whilst always respecting his musical heritage, Femi has refined over more than twenty years, an Afrobeat with soul-jazz nuances that is entirely his own.
The route taken has always been original, from his signing with Motown in the early 90’s until his ground-breaking album in 2001 “Fight To Win”, for example, when he joined with rappers Mos Def and Common and funkmaster James Poyser, amongst other American luminaries. These rich experiences only served to re-enforce his ultimate conviction; his music has never been as intense as when brewed in a Nigerian cauldron and matured in the hot-house atmosphere of the Shrine – his Lagos nightclub.
