Felabration comes to Accra

The Alliance Francaise in Accra will tonight play host to Felabration, an official celebration of influential Nigerian Afro-beat star, Fela Anikulapo Kuti alongside what is being done  in Nigeria and other countries the world over.

Veteran guitarist,composer and arranger, Ebo Taylor, who generated the idea to celebrate the famous Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, composer, pioneer of the Afrobeat music genre and political activist here in Ghana, would lead the  Ghana event and shed some light on Fela’s music and its impact across the world.

 Gyedu Blay Ambolley, Kyekyeku, Villy & the Xtreme Volumes and Yaa Yaa Kankam are the other artistes that are billed to perform their own songs and tributes to Fela, aside from Ebo Taylor.

An exhibition of posters, titled Buy Africa, put together by Joseph Oduro-Frimpong of Ashesi University, which will open on the night and end on November 8, will highlight the legacy of Fela’s music. The aim is to call attention to aspects of Fela’s life and music worth emulating. That is, to boldly name and shame our political leaders and their cronies whose corrupt practices rob ordinary citizens of decent lives?

Created by Yeni Anikulapo Kuti in honour of her father and Afrobeat creator in 1998, Felaboration is one of the biggest cultural gatherings on the continent and beyond. It is recognised in respected music circles globally that Fela Kuti was inspired by the Ghanaian highlife in the creation of Afrobeat.

According to Alliance Francaise, the Accra event is endorsed by the Felabration Organising Committee (FOC) in Lagos, Nigeria.

Fela was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria on October 15, 1938. He died on August 2, 1997.