London,

Fela's boy comes into his own

Jane Cornwell, Evening Standard 29.05.08

Seun Kuti took his time coming on stage last night. For a tension-building 10 minutes his band Egypt 80 worked the room on his behalf.

The diminutive Showboy, true to his name in gold lamé and black shades, blasted baritone sax riffs skywards. Septuagenarian musical director Baba Ani — a former lead saxophonist now too frail to lift that instrument — played keyboards.

Electric guitars met blaring horns and thundering percussion. Face-painted vocalists traced speedy figures-of-eight with their bottoms.

This, then, was Afrobeat by the masters. The same dance orchestra that first backed Seun Kuti’s father, the late Nigerian legend Fela Kuti, a quarter century ago. A big band that Seun, 25, first appeared with aged eight, a mini-Fela with the same moves and sense of self.

Seun Kuti has been fronting Egypt 80 since his father’s death in 1997 — but unlike big brother Femi is yet to nail it internationally. His last Barbican appearance (for 2004’s Black President season) was lacklustre, an imitative Fela tribute that Egypt 80 just rescued.

A few years — and a current debut album, Many Things — have made all the difference. Seun fired off lightning bolt sax riffs before embarking on a set that mixed his own politically-defiant songs with such Fela standards as Smiling and Suffering.

In between he spoke out against corruption and injustice in his homeland. He may not possess the riveting rage of Fela (Seun is a thinker not a fighter) but he managed to embody his spirit while seeming, finally, his own man. When his shirt came off to reveal “Fela Lives” tattooed across his back, the feeling was that yes, indeed he does.

Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.

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