🎶🇳🇬🕊️💔🕯️ Twenty-five years ago (yesterday, in fact!) the king of Afrobeat, Fela Ransome Kuti, passed away. To mark the occasion, I’m putting one of his most emblematic songs, Lady, back on the turntable, an Afrofeminist anthem before its time. This track, which appeared on the B-side of Shakara in 1972, another of the artist’s major titles, embodies the essence of Fela: a powerful groove, the trance of Afrobeat and powerful messages. Recorded with his group Africa 70 (and reissued here in 2014 by Knitting Factory), the track echoes Fela’s social and political struggles, and attacks stereotypes about women in Nigerian society (and elsewhere!). Lady quickly established itself as a cult anthem. The album Shakara, and by extension Lady, bears witness to an era when African music, driven by Afrobeat, was distinguished by its ability to fuse traditional sounds with modern influences, notably funk and jazz. The impact of these songs remains undeniable today, both in the music world and in the fight for women’s rights.
Shakara – Fela & the Africa 70, 1972
