Red Hot + Fela

This is the latest in the series of albums that the Red Hot organisation have released to raise money and awareness to fight AIDS around the world. It’s also the latest vibrant chapter in Fela’s posthumous career, which has seen his cult status expand exponentially across the world, following hard on the heels of the world-conquering Broadway musical Fela!, the ever-evolving repackaging and re-releasing of his works, the Kalakuta Museum in Lagos, and the biopic and documentary still to come over the next few years.

Red Hot + Fela is a unique approach to some of the finest tunes in the canon of the late and deservedly legendary Fela Kuti (and the very much alive master kit drummer Tony Allen, his sine qua non). It underlines triumphantly, fiercely and loudly how Fela’s stature, influence, and resonance continues to grow amongst the musicians of the 21st century. You can’t help but feel the enduring power of the extraordinary musical and political vision of this Nigerian maestro. But you can also hear what revelatory tunes he wrote, as these other artists make them their own.

Producers Paul Heck and Anthony Demby invited an ingeniously diverse array of artists to freely explore Kuti classics like ‘Lady’, ‘Zombie’ and ‘Sorrow, Tears and Blood’. They range from the new generation of African modernists such as Spoek Mathambo, Nneka and Baloji, to totally unexpected contributors like the contemporary classical ensemble Kronos Quartet and the rockist twang-meisters, My Morning Jacket. This album deserves more than five stars: each and every track hits the spot.