Fela Kuti
's 1975
Confusion
shows him and
Africa 70
at the heights of instrumental prowess and ambiguous jibes (the stabs are about to get a bit more direct and heated with 1977's
Zombie
).
"Confusion"
begins with an unusual free jazz interplay between
Fela
on organ and drummer
Tony Allen
that has the presence of
2001: A Space Odyssey
in its omnipresent drama. Then the group falls into a lengthily mid-tempo Afro funk that plays with a sureness that only comes from skilled musicians and a dictator-like leader; here is the formula that had made
a genius: Once he has the listener (or the crowd -- as all of his songs were originally meant to entertain and educate his audiences at the Shrine) entranced in his complex (and at the same time, deceptively simple) arrangements of danceable grooves, he hits them with what he wants to say.
is a comment on the general condition of urban Nigeria (Lagos, in particular).
uses traffic jams, no fewer than three dialects, and a multitude of currencies that make trading difficult to complete the allusion to the general post-colonial confusion of a Nigeria lacking in infrastructure and proper leadership.
is a highly recommended 25-minute Afro-beat epic. [In 2000,
MCA
released
and
Gentleman
as a two-fer.] ~ Sam Samuelson