Day 29: Femi Kuti, mo’ MoMA

Central Park is home to Summerstage, a series of free concerts and events during the New York summer, and tonight saw Femi Kuti bring out the infectious afrobeat vibes made legendary by his father, the late Fela Kuti.

The day was hot, once again easily reaching into the 30’s (C), and in the afternoon we returned to MoMA to finish viewing the Richard Serra “Forty Something” exhibition that we saw part of a few weeks ago. So we came back to take a look at the giant indoor section of these weatherproof metal sheets that appear deceivingly simple. 3 different parts of the indoor exhibition – “Band”, “Torqued Torus Inversion” and “Sequence” – allow you to walk through, around and between the pieces and see perfectly aligned artistic lines from one spot, then taking one step in any direction offers a completely different yet complimentary view of these towering, perfectly balanced sheets. The “Sequence” piece literally throws you off balance when walking between two contrasting sheets, one leaning out from you and the other curving towards you.

Around 5.30pm, the museum is closing, and my attempt to catch a subway back to the apartment finds me stuck in the stifling muggy underground waiting for a train that wasn’t stuffed beyond capacity. Luckily they were coming through every few minutes for the rush hour, and after letting 2 of them pass, I jump on the 3rd (and still overcrowded) train and discover rain and thunderstorms have since started. Nothing is going to put me off going to see Femi Kuti, so Rose and I arm ourselves with plastic bags and umbrella’s and head over to Central Park shortly after 6pm. The rain is coming down good, occasionally easing off, and although it’s definitely put some people off attending, there’s still a good crowd that turns up.

7pm rolls around and his band, The Positive Force, enter the stage. His horn players line up do a short piece, move into position and allow his 3 backup singers, dressed in little outfits come on and the shaking begins (more on that later). Lastly, Femi enters and opens up with “Truth Don Die”, the rain fades off and the crowd are into it (by this time, many of them have accepted the rain and stripped down anyway!). Femi works through spiritual and politically charged-songs, jumping between the mic, saxophone and his piercing elongated repeated notes on keyboards. His backup singers take any opportunity when they’re away from their mics to shake all parts of their bodies at incredible speed, mixing in sexually-rampant swivelling hips, thrusts and traditional voodoo-styled stomps and jumps. The percussionist hits skins with equally impressive speed to the high-tempo african rhythms. There are strong signs of him almost being possessed during parts of his performance, especially throughout songs such as “Sorry Sorry”, “Scatta Head” and “Beng Beng Beng” (video will be up soon).

After around 90 minutes of performance, including the encore, the crowd is invited to stay and watch “Music Is The Weapon” – a documentary on his father, Fela, and his life which included 15 wives, his struggles against the Nigerian government and his plans on becoming the nations president. Fela died on August 2nd 1997 from Aids-related causes, and over 1 million people attended his funeral.

PS: Apologies for the lack of updates in between… I’m working on them.

RIP: Donna Blakely

Have just learnt that Donna Blakely passed away on Saturday June 9, 2007… A vocalist known for her work with producers such as Ralphi Rosario and Mark Grant.  Easily one of her finest moments was on “Gotta New Love”, a powerful and defining Garage song from 1995.  Check out Ralphi’s tribute to her.

May she Rest In Peace.