go and kill! joro jara joro. go and die! joro jara joro.

88.




zombie
fela kuti and afrika '70 [celluloid, 1977]

among many, many other things, non-Western nations got a raw deal in regards to musical representation. the gag reflex "world music" tag summons scenes of hoity-toity, lily-white liberal guilt stuffed-shirts politely clapping to Ladysmith Black Mambazo in marble-lined university assembly halls. "it's inspiring because they're repressed!" Fela Kuti demolishes any and all watered-down, tepid approximations of Third World anxiety and rage; this is bomb-throwing music for revolutions, not fashionable exoticism. drawing influence from the rhythmic ferocity of James Brown, the experimental intensity of late period Miles Davis, and the call-and-response structure of traditional West African music, Fela Kuti and Afrika '70 constructed an intoxicating hard-edged jazz-funk fusion, later labeled "Afrobeat." they released a multitude of records in the '70s, but Zombie is the most notorious. the title track is a scathing, fanged critique of the Nigerian military, comparing soldiers not to the brain-eating shamblers of Western pop culture, but to the trained-to-kill mindless automatons of Voodoo lore. a brutal, braying alto sax leads the charge while the rhythm section pulsates and throbs. after barking commands over a chorus of voices shouting "zombie, oh zombie!" Kuti fires up the organ and lets loose with a skin-burning solo. the album's other track, "mister follow follow," is a slow-burner, gradually gathering momentum towards an exhilarating refrain denouncing blind Pied Piper devotion to charismatic leaders. through his ardor and fearlessness in the face of corruption and dictatorship, Kuti makes a mockery of Western "protest" music by proving that a record could be as subversive as a pamphlet and as dangerous as a grenade.

bring down the government moment: when i say this record was dangerous, it's not just critical hyperbole. check the Wikipedia page for this album: the Nigerian military felt so threatened, they attacked Kuti's compound, destroyed his instruments, nearly beat him to death, and threw his mother out a window. it's further proof of Kuti's indefatigable resolve that he responded by recording more inflammatory music.