Photo Credit: Blaine Schultz
Femi Kuti
The final night of Summerfest 2021 featured Turkuaz, the sprawling group featuring Talking Heads multi-instrumentalist Jerry Harrison and guitarist Adrian Belew (who toured as part of the Talking Heads), performing a concert built around the Heads 1980 album Remain in Light.
Fittingly Summerfest 2022 opened with Femi Kuti & The Positive Force at the Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard. Femi is the son of the late Fela Aníkúlápó Kuti, the legendary Nigerian pioneer of the Afrobeat sound the Talking Heads (and Turkuaz) drew so studiedly from.
To misquote Shakespeare, heavy is the head that wears the crown. And Femi Kuti has proven more than up to the task of continuing the family legacy.
Taking the stage with an eight-piece band that included his son as part of the horn section and a trio of dancers-percussionists that included his wife, Femi said, “I am the captain and this is your crew.” The songs were patient in developing, with rhythms supporting lyrical consciousness-raising themes of love humanity, justice, injustice and politics.
Playing keyboard, taking a solo on sax or most often, the dervish frontman, Kuti’s flight plan sailed into one non-stop groove after another, with mighty horn blasts and crescendos dropping down to piano-led breakdowns.
Politics and Song
Photo Credit: Blaine Schultz
Femi Kuti
“You can’t fight corruption with corruption,” Kuti sang, and the message was as strong as the groove. Near the end of the show he testified, “I’ve got too much on my mind. But I believe, I believe--with time everything will be fine” he had a crowd believing in with him. Before handing off the flight to his son, Made, the duo performed a mesmerizing saxophone duet.
After just 45 minutes it felt as if they were only getting warmed up. When the stage manager signaled “five minutes” Kuti and band ran through the deadline like an 18-wheeler through a roadblock, playing an additional 12 minutes.
