I was once told by an African friend, ‘In Europe, dance and music are things you study, you practise, you build buildings for – you watch it, you write about it: in Africa, music and dance are something we do!’ There’s a similar no-nonsense, almost business-like sense of purpose as soon as Femi Kuti and his band The Positive Force launch into their first number. Femi answers the enthusiastic reception at the Royal Concert Hall by saying that he won’t be speaking a lot tonight – he’ll let the music speak.
Of course that was not going prove entirely the case: son of a true giant of African music Fela Kuti, who combined pioneering Afrobeat with political polemic, and grandson of social campaigner Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, it was not long before Femi launched into the first of a few pithy, albeit brief, comments on social justice, centring on the post-colonial situation that Africa finds itself in – poor government and education, corruption and poverty. It needs to be said, in a distinguished concert hall and an international festival of music that holds colourful indigenous culture up against the prevailing cultural winds from the grey corporate rich; in what is very much his arena, it’s a chance to remind the west that African people too look forward to a time of social justice, and to enjoy the best in all walks of life, emerging finally from under colonialism’s shadow.
Now 62, Kuti is a truly international performer of some five decades’ standing. London-born, he grew up in Lagos, but after his parents separated he joined his father Fela Kuti (appearing with him at Glastonbury Festival 50 years ago) as his father brought Afrobeat to western audiences – a new-fangled mix combining African and American funk rhythms. He also saw his father beaten and jailed for his opposition to Muhammadu Buhari’s government – an incarceration that Amnesty International deemed entirely political. Given a background like that, you too would have something to say between songs.
It’s a fantastically energetic, sharply-focused performance, including cuts from his acclaimed 2021 release Legacy+, which brings out showcases his best: a mix of tight stabbing brass riffs with piano and guitar floating over a solid bass and percussion groove. The Positive Force has been together since 1986, ambassadors for African music on the world stage. Most of the songs are founded on a relaxed but persistent high-energy two-chord see-saw groove, with expansions and variations making for a very rich experience over the course of four minutes or so. Extended outings are few, and the endings come sooner than I expected, making them surprisingly economical and tight compared to much of the Afrobeat I’ve heard. And at Celtic Connections there has been thankfully much to hear of that ilk: I was put in mind of Rise Kagona, of the legendary Zimbabwean Bhundu Boys, who died last year in Edinburgh, having contributed to Afro-Celtic nights as part of this festival, helping promote African music in Britain since the 1980s.
Although peppered with solos providing highlights and detail, including from Femi’s sax and Hammond organ, it’s the giant, interlaced ensemble groove that makes the overall impression. Before long folk are out of their seats and dancing – because it is so joyously infectious. Occasional Rhodes piano and guitar solos come to the foreground and Kuti’s voice is intense, melodic and forceful. His dancing trio of female of backing vocalists are very much in the foreground – dressed traditionally, they’re at the centre of a colourful spectacle that, with a little coloured spotlighting, hits the spot in the way only African music can.
(Fun fact: since 2017 Femi has held the Guinness World Record for the longest-held saxophone note – 51 minutes: a further illustration of his unconstrained energy.)
With my apologies to Hannabiell Sanders and Yilis del Carmen Suriel – support Ladies of Midnight Blue, whose performance was too early for me to attend on the Tuesday night. I hope to catch their vibrant fusion of rhythm, brass, and vocal chant when they’re next in Scotland.
