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 | Title : Red Hot + Riot: The Music and Spirit of Fela Kuti
Author : Various Artists
Release Date : 20021015
Binding : Audio CD
Regular Price : $18.98
Amazon.com Price : $13.99
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Editorial Reviews :
Never has there been a more appropriate Red Hot tribute than this one dedicated to the music of Afrobeat founder Fela Kuti, the Nigerian legend who died from AIDS-related complications in 1997. The artists and groups heard here, nearly 40 all told, cover the musical spectrum: hip-hop (Blackalicious, Roots), jazz (Roy Hargrove, Archie Shepp); soul (Sade, D'Angelo), Afrobeat (Tony Allen, Femi Kuti), world music (Baaba Maal, Jorge Ben), electronic music (Mixmaster Mike, Money Mark) and rock (Nile Rodgers). They have come together to raise money for the 25 million Africans now infected with the AIDS/HIV virus. Red Hot efforts often pair different artists together on the same song, and this album features many once-in-a-lifetime collaborations. Fela's music has been refashioned and mixed together here according to the styles of the artists, rendering several of the 20 songs barely recognizable in comparison with the originals. But such is the strength of Fela's music that even such singular-sounding artists as Macy Gray and Dead Prez get into the Afrobeat spirit of things.
Buyer Reviews :
This tribute to the 'music and spirit' of Fela Kuti truly lives up to its title, unlike other tributes that merely exploit the legacy of great artists. But then again, this is what we would expect from the organization that put this out. Red Hot has been producing concept and tribute albums to raise money for AIDS research, each of which has been artistically well-executed and a labor of love. When Fela Kuti died of AIDS in 1997, he left behind an important legacy as an Afrobeat pioneer, protest singer, and cultural rebel. The artists who pay tribute to him encompass R&B, rap, neo-soul and blues royalty (D'Angelo, Common, Me'Shell Ndegeocello, Taj Mahal, Sade), as well as great African indigenous artists (Cheikh Lo, Baaba Maal). As diverse as their styles are, the musicians have managed to respect the Afrobeat roots and emotional authenticity of Fela's music - which is what makes this tribute truly great indeed. A few surprises here: Scratchy-voiced Macy Gray (love her or hate her) singing in Yoruba in Water No Get Enemy (featuring Fela's son Femi and D'Angelo) over the driving horns and heavy percussion anticipates a creative disaster, but the result is the one of the highlights of this album. Surprise #2: Fellow-Nigerian Sade contributes a dubby, echo-ey remix of her hit By Your Side spliced with Fela samples...the most radical thing she's done (by the way, this remix has been a hard-to-get underground hit for months, so its inclusion here is a double bonus). The great music and the important cause behind it makes this an album to get.
(by Jeff Gould)
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