Thu 10/30 @ 8PM
Fela Anikulapo Kuti, known to music afiocionados as just Fela , died 17 years ago. But the musical style he created — Afrobeat — seems to just keep getting more and more popular. Its roots go back to the early ’70s when he blended jazz, rock, funk and musical styles from his native Nigeria and other African countries into a rhythmic, big-band genre featuring lyrics that were heavily anti-imperialistic and anti-authoritarian.
We’ve seen new interest in this music take hold in bands like New York’s Antibalas and Cleveland’s now defunct Mifune and current band Hybrid Shakedown. And in 2008 the musical Fela! debuted in New York and later moved to Broadway; the touring company was at Cleveland’s PlayhouseSquare last year.
The undying fascination with the mold-breaking Fela director Alex Gibney (who won an Oscar for his 2006 documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) to make the Finding Fela, which explores his important both as a musician and a political figure. Gibney is experienced in tackling complicated individuals and situations. He’s made films about Wikileaks, priest sexual abuse and its cover-up, and the scandal that took down New York Governor Eliot Spitzer.
Finding Fela debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January and now it’s getting its Cleveland premier at the Grog Shop. Tickets are $20.