FEATURE ARTICLE

Babs AjayiWednesday, July 10, 2013
[email protected]
Gatineau, Quebec, Canada

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FEMI KUTI AT THE RBC BLUESFEST IN OTTAWA

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id we not come from a nation of wasted talents;
A land flowing with milk and honey, loaded with gifts untold and abundant Talents?
Did we not throw out some of the oranges before they are ripe enough because bountiful is the field and lush is the harvest?
A confused and greedy lord of the manor, a thief and looter richly rattled by
The magnitude of harvest and the insects of greed in his eyes?
Did we not let the thieving landlord squander and snarl at the best fruits,
Kicking them to strange lands, pushing the balladists to take their saxophones, drums, trumpets, gbedu and konga to sing before strangers who knew not our culture?
The thief and his co-grabbers eating, drinking and making merry before imported Overpaid rappers who sing lurid songs of pleasure to their buffoon paymasters and scowl at our traditions?
Akanni came today laden with untold talent.
With several other talents he came from Eko Ile, the same Akanni, the son of Olufela.

I arrived before the rest to be sure Akanni would behold a face from home
Before the multitude of strangers set their green, blue, hazel, and violet eyes on Bere's beloved grandson

Strangers out-numbered sons of the soil in multiple folds
Swinging and jiving to the music of our forefathers;
They sang along with Akanni or simply murmured what they thought he sang. Akanni belted out new songs and the gyrations went wild, our own Akanni
Who is loathed by the blank-shooting powers in our land was the star before a Mammoth crowd swarmed by the side of the Ottawa River with waves of breeze.

Femi Kuti left his mark on the people of Ottawa at the RBC Bluesfest where he played to a huge crowd at the annual festival of music in Canada's national capital. The Positive Force kicked off the festival at the River Stage right beside the Ottawa River. The band kept the crowd on its feet throughout their session and Femi Kuti's dancers added spice and high energy to the show. It was a show worthy of a band devoted to social change, fairness, a challenge for purposeful government and leadership in Africa and in Nigeria in particular.

The Positive Force sang new songs from Femi's latest album and one evergreen song, "I Sorry Sorry o," a singer's concern about the further degeneration of Nigeria and Africa with a refrain that expressed sadness and worry:

i sorry sorry o, i sorry for Nigeria,
i sorry sorry o, i sorry for Africa
sorry sorry o
i sorry sorry o, i sorry for Nigeria,
i sorry sorry o, i sorry for Africa
sorry sorry o

No Place For My Dream, his new album shows a consistency in the message and philosophy of Femi Kuti, the unwavering and dogged fighter and campaigner against oppression, corruption and bad governance in Nigeria and Africa. He sang several tracks from this new album at the RBC Ottawa Bluesfest including "The World is Changing," "No Work No Job No Money," "Politics Na Big Business," and "Wey Our Money." The three-time Grammy nominated artist used his jazz and funk Afro-beat to captivating effects with every track number, particularly when he sang the track "Politics Na Big Business," where he warned that "when you see politicians coming, beware." Femi's unique genre propelled the crowd into high gyration and energy-fuelled frenzy.

In continuation of his 2013 summer tour of Europe and North America, the scion of the Anikuloapo-Kuti extraction of the large Kuti family will round up this leg of his North American tour at the Festival d'ete de Quebec in Quebec on July 6, 2013. The tour has taken Femi Kuti and his 12-man band, the Positive Force to Central Park in New York, the Cedar Centre, Minneapolis, the Summerferst, Milwaukee, Electric Forest, Rothbury, and the Opera House in Toronto.

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