FEMI KUTI: LIVE AT THE SHRINE [W/ BONUS LIVE CD]watch trailer | play this video
Director: Raphael Frydman



On Live At The Shrine, singer, composer and bandleader Femi Kuti takes Afro-beat - a blend of traditional Nigerian drum patterns; the smooth, positive groove of highlife (the first modern African music to gain worldwide recognition); a scorching horn section that brought James Brown's stuttering beat back home and re-Africanized it; and American soul, funk and R&B ? to a new creative level.

Femi's father, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, created Afro-beat and took his mesmerizing new hybrid from the poverty stricken neighborhoods of Lagos to stages and arenas all over the world. Today Femi is ensuring the music's continued vitality as one of the most powerful sounds to ever arise from the African Motherland adding his own innovations.

Both the Live At The Shrine live recording and documentary capture Femi and his band, Positive Force, in front of an enthusiastic hometown audience in Lagos, Nigeria. The album contains 14 tracks; more than an hour of music while the DVD contains electrifying concert footage, interviews with Femi, his band and his fans, scenes of street life in Lagos that document both the city's grinding poverty and vibrant spirit, and an inside look at the day to day workings of The Shrine, built by Femi as a memorial to his father. It also explores the motives behind Femi's "Sunday Jumps," weekly concerts that have become a rallying point for political resistance as well as a method for blowing off some of the pressure created by an imploding society. With the exception of Femi's classic "1997," a eulogy to his fallen father, and an inspired re-working of Fela's "Water No Get Enemy," the material on Live At The Shrine is all new, culled from the many songs Femi has been developing since his last recording, 2001's Fight To Win.

Femi's take on Afro-beat is built on the sturdy foundation of his father's vibrant polyrhythmic archetype: an inspired merging of traditional Nigerian music, highlife, and the soul, funk, jazz and R&B Fela picked up on his trips to the United States. Femi adds to the mix by blending in the modern beats of American and European club culture as well as the neo-R&B and hip-hop sounds that are increasingly important to young African listeners. The result honors his father's work and extends its vision into the new century. It lays the groundwork for a new global pop vision, one that's politically charged as well as danceable.

With the Live At The Shrine CD, Femi and Positive Force have produced a great live album; you can sense the electric flow of energy between performer and audience. On "Can't Buy Me," Femi sounds like preacher, shouting in tongues, punctuating his vocals with short, sharp keyboard fills. "Shotan" [the word is Nigerian slang for acts of self-destructive anger] is driven by the superior guitar work of Dokon Oke and Femi's growling vocals as he urges the people to rise up out of indifference and direct their anger at the powers that be. "If Them Want To Hear" is a hymn to the spirit of the Nigerian people marked by Femi's sanctified keyboards and a gentle vocal that brings to mind the work of Bob Marley, another prophet for peace. And while Femi's sax, keyboards, and vocals are the focal point, don't underestimate the potent contributions of the Positive Force band. Joseph Darlington's bass lines push the music forward melodically and rhythmically; trap drummers Adekunle Ayobami Olayode and Dobo Oloko Obi add exciting and unexpected break beats to every jam and the six man horn section supplies blazing musical accents that ignite the crowd.

Live At The Shrine is also an historical document, one that looks back to honor a turbulent past, and forward to a future that holds the promise of better days to come. In 1977, as today, Nigeria was a dangerous place, especially if you were poor or politically disenfranchised. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti's songs, full of irresistible grooves and acidic social commentary, made him a hero to the people and a problem for the corrupt government. Fela had declared the home he shared with his wives, mother and band members, a sovereign state, the Kalakuta Republic. On February 22, the Nigerian Army burned it to the ground. Fela was beaten, hospitalized, and jailed, his family and friends brutalized and raped. From then until his death, Fela was in open warfare with the power structure. Fela continued to perform weekly gigs and although there was no formal Shrine, every club Fela played became a temporary Shrine, a rallying point for the people?s hope and resistance.

In early 2000, Femi Kuti took over a warehouse in the industrial section of Ikeja, close to his father's old home and finally built a permanent home for Afro-beat - The Africa Shrine. The walls are decorated with portraits of pan-Africanist poets and heroes of Black Power. It is bigger and more open to the people than it was in its former incarnations - and three and a half years after its opening, the new Shrine is as popular with the people, and as dangerous to the powers that be, as it ever was. Femi continues his father's work with music that combines sentiments of anti-globalization and celebrations of our common humanity. Femi is as fierce and as charismatic as his father, and makes music that's every bit as exciting as his dad's.

Live At The Shrine was filmed and recorded in Lagos in March of 2004. The principals behind the project include Uwe (Uncivilized World Entertainment,) a progressive organization that champions many musical and political causes; MK2 Music, a label dedicated to finding new ways of presenting music by combining cinematic, musical and digital culture; Raphael Frydman, a young French producer, director and filmmaker known for Babylon's Fever (a documentary on Manu Chao) and the feature film Adieu Babylone (a coming of age story shot in Mexico and the US); and sound engineer/producer Sodi, who engineered and produced Fela's last seven albums as well as Femi's Fight To Win and Shoki Shoki.

DVD Special Features:
- Exclusive bonus footage Femi Kuti inteview. - Bonus live performances of "Water No Get Enemy" and "Yeparipa."
- "Shotan" music video
- English subtitles


CD Tracklist:
1. Intro 0:45
2. Dem bobo 7:11
3. Oyimbo 4:15
4. I wanna be free 3:59
5. If them want to hear 7:35
6. Eho 4:45
7. 1, 2, 3, 4 4:23
8. Yeparipa 4:10
9. Can't buy me 5:37
10. Bring me the man now 6:17
11. '97 6:36
12. Intro Shotan 1:13
13. Shotan 6:07
14. Water no get enemy 5:06

Nice one! I saw this video last November and also got myself a copy immediately; if I have to describe it I’ll simple say “heavy�! Femi Kuti alias Alabi Yellow- Shaki Edo - Fanta!

Femi is good to watch and listen to live on stage. However, musically his father's music is better arranged and thus surpasses his. But I guess Femi hasn’t got that much anger! Besides, the Nigerian military have now returned to the barracks where they belong. So the content of his music is not as thought provoking as his Father alias Baba 70. Maybe i am bias here but i live and eat Afrobeat from Fela ever since i was 8 years old in Lagos Ajegunle Nigeria therefore it is impossible for any living artist to take up the mantle from where Fela left it and fully fulfil, there is always a "but". His spirit is still alive even though he died in 1997 (My favorite performance on that DVD is ’97. Here you can see displays of great brilliance and good sax performances from Femi putting him back on a par with great sax legends.


Good video none the less. Definitely a video for those on blackchat to see. Witness African funk aka Afrobeat (music of the shrine) in its full effect with authentic African audiences from around the continent. From the young male/female graduates, working professionals to street hoodlums/urchins aka Area Boys.

The energy level from his performace is very highsmoking-devil (Nigeria Natural Grass) The female dancers are nice, proper ass shaking from the real African ladies. This is seriously close to what is in effect dancehallperformance in Jamaica. However, it has a long existence in Nigeria music from time!


The legend lives on in his son Femi Kuti!

Where can Iget a copy of it in London folks ?

I would like to have it.... thats cool

HMV Superstores - check the world music sections. I got mine from Marble Arch HMV. Alternatively you can order online from amazon.com,etc. All just order it at your local branch and wait for it to arrive in a matter of daysconfused3

Look like someone did a search on Femi. On my purchase list.