In our first Friday Fela since the spring, we turn to Fela’s youngest son, Seun.
Two years ago, Seun Kuti released one of the all-time great Afrobeat albums, Heavier Yet (Lays the Crownless Head). Last week, he released Na Dem, another album full of political protest, rousing horns, and wriggly rhythms.
It is on ‘Problems’ where the horns are most rousing, and indeed most life-affirming. That’s despite the fact that the song is about how hard life is, how everything feels like a puzzle - “Hard like sudoku”.
Seun recruited Femi Koleoso (of Ezra Collective) as producer after previously working with Brian Eno, Robert Glasper, and Lenny Kravitz – people he considered “masters” growing up. He already had a relationship with Koleoso and considers him a contemporary. They could vibe in the studio; Koleoso is a “Yoruba boy” like Seun.
In the intro, percussion by Will Fry and drums by Mario Orsinet and Koleoso hint at the fidgetiness that lasts the whole song. Those polyrhythms give way to something a little simpler when the vocals come in: the guitar finds offbeats between Seun’s lyrics, and the bass drum plays four on the floor.
‘Problems’ is about as concise and poppy as Seun ever gets: it runs for just three minutes and two seconds, and the chorus arrives 24 seconds in. There’s a classic Afrobeat call-and-response between Seun’s voice, which he often uses more softly nowadays but is quite harsh on this track, and the horns. The four-note horn line, excitedly jumping up in pitch in its second note, is as hooky as the “I don't smoke no more”.
Before the second chorus, Kabaka Pyramid sings the first of his two brilliantly energising verses, this one about the power of lyrics music to overcome struggles. He references the footballer Lamine Yamal (“we have them twist and turning”).
The bass (apparently played by both Kunle Justice and Gbeke Ojutiku, though only one bassline seems audible) is, fairly typically of Afrobeat, a little more laid back than the guitar (here scratchy, sharp and palm-muted for much of the song) and the horns. Its sustained notes give it an air of cool beneath the chaos. The bass lays out for the bridge at 1:20 (“You left / You right”) and plays minimally for the later bridge at 2:00 (“That boy is a problem”).
Seun collaborated with Kabaka Pyramid because he sees reggae as music “for the people, the way Afrobeat is for the people”, aiming to build a community with “as the artists that share this consciousness”. Seun’s political party, Movement of the People (MOP), started by Fela and referenced on Heavier Yet track ‘Move’, is currently trying to register to stand in elections.
Elsewhere on the album, Seun sings on ‘DJB’ about “devil just busy”, the negative energy dominating society, and on the title track the ruling class – “the people that have taken to oppressing both humanity and nature, in the name of their profits”. Even as he sings about those “winch men” (wicked or manipulative people), Seun’s spirit is uplifting.
Seun said that Fela made it clear to him that music was a representation of their people. Seun told Songlines,
“As Africans, we cannot use music the way the West uses music, only for relaxation. Our art must be something that is inspiring in our people’s minds our true duty, our true mission, right now in the process of our rediscovery as African people.”
This echoes Fela’s message. He once said,
“If you are in England, music can be an instrument of enjoyment. So you can sing about love, you can sing about who you are going to bed with next. But in my environment, my society is underdeveloping because of an alien system on our people now. (…) There’s something like a struggle for people’s existence. So as an artist, politically, artistically, the whole idea about your environment must be represented in the music, in the arts. Art is what is happening at a particular time of a people’s development or underdevelopment, you see. So I think as far as Africa is concerned, music cannot be for enjoyment. Music has to be for revolution.”
Top image from Bandcamp.