Fela & Africa 70 – Kalakuta Show (Kalakuta Records)

The debut release on Fela Kuti’s own Kalakuta Records, ‘Kalakuta Show’ finds him and band Africa 70 in vintage Afrobeat form. \n \n Recorded in Lagos in 1975, then released the following year, the a-side is a fearless riposte to the two military raids and trial that had happened in 1974 – ending with the charges against Fela being dismissed and the still wounded singer getting carried back home by a supportive crowd of 50,000 young people. On the other side, ‘Don’t Make Garan Garan’, though slower, is cut from a similar cloth. With ‘Garan Garan’ Yoruba for an egoist or person who is full of himself, Fela rails against such fellow countrymen with typically poetic funk and fire. \n \n