13. Fela KutiHe Miss Road
On this particular record there’s a track called ‘Monday Morning In Lagos’ and I heard it before I’d ever been to Nigeria (my dad’s Nigerian). I knew we were going but I didn’t have any idea what it would be like. That track made me think of how it would be. A real hot day, really dry, massive roads, really massive land. What I love about Fela is that he’s a very creative writer and has a lot of dark humour. He writes very humorously. But dark.
I could have chosen any Fela Kuti record, it’s impossible to choose just one to call your favourite but for the sake of this I chose this. But all of his records have a sense of groove, building up the track through layers of instruments, and the chanting, the lyrics about everyday life. Maybe not everyday life for us living in the UK, but the for the land he was living in it was very much what was going on.
He made me understand that it’s important to be an individual, to be yourself. Fela Kuti is an example of a great artist.
