By Adedayo Odulaja
The 2014 edition of Felabration, an annual celebration of Afrobeat legend and one of the best music stars the world has seen, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, held between October 13 and 19, 2014.
And although the 2014 edition of Felabration has come and gone, the thrills and frills of the week-long festival, like every great event, will remain with participants for a long time. With 7-Up as the headline sponsor this year, Felabration was delivered in spectacular fashion for the entire week this year in what is sure to go down as the best edition in several years since Felabration started ten years ago.
The 2014 edition, which would have been the 76th birthday of the icon of social struggles and unending rebellion against successive Nigerian administrations, also celebrated the ideals and legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
Oby Ezekwesili moderates symposium
Themed ‘Legend: Who no know go know,’ the 2014 Felabration kicked off with a symposium titled ‘Amalgamation Of Peoples of the Niger Area moderated by a former Nigerian minister and #BringBackOurGirls activist, Oby Ezekwesili.
Finding Fela
This year’s edition of Felabration was further kicked into gear with Finding Fela, a movie which provides fans worldwide with another theatrical experience of the life and times of the Afrobeat legend after Fela! the Broadway version which came to Nigeria a few years ago.
Finding Fela, a movie already in cinemas across Nigeria, began showing on Friday, October 17, 2014, days after it premiered at the New Afrika Shrine on Sunday, October 12, 2014.
Delivered by Academy Award winner, Alex Gibney, who is known for his gripping, deeply insightful documentaries, the movie tells a straightforward and engrossing biography of Nigeria’s most notable musician and legendary activist.
Shot in black and white and colour formats, Finding Fela showcases actual footages of Fela’s life and times as well as revealing interviews from family members and allies that include Femi Kuti, Yeni Kuti, Seun Kuti, Bill T. Jones, Jim Lewis Rikki Stein, Lemi Ghariokwu and Queen Kewe Anikulapo Kuti.
Finding Fela tells the story of Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s life, his music, his social and political importance and how he created a new musical movement, Afrobeat and used that forum to express his revolutionary political opinions against the dictatorial Nigerian regimes of the 1970s and 1980s.
‘Fela’s influence helped bring a change towards democracy in Nigeria and promoted Pan Africanist politics to the world and the power and potency of Fela’s message is completely current today and is expressed in the political movements of oppressed people who embracing Fela’s music and message in their struggle for freedom,’ the producers expressed in a statement.
At the movie premiere, a number of music acts and movie practitioners including Seyi Shay, Carol King, Tunde Kelani and Ade Bantu were in attendance.
When the music fest section of Felabration kicked off on Monday, October 13, 2014, the game changed with the large crowd that attended the concert for each day causing crowd control headache for organizers severally.
Musical performances
Compered by comedian, Kofi, those who performed on the opening day include veteran highlife musician, Orlando Julius; Taye Currency, Lace and others.
On Tuesday, October 14, one of Nigeria’s current stars, Wizkid made his appearance at Felabration, with the Starboy boss exciting the crowd all the way with his Afrobeat-inclined songs like ‘Ojuelegba’ and ‘Jaiye Jaiye’ among others.
In what will surely go down as one of the best editions of Felabration in terms of attendance, either by fans of Fela’s music and ideals or current music stars who identify with Abami Eda as Fela is also called, 2face Idibia is one of the stars that graced the stage at Felabration 2014.
2face, performing admirably with a live band in a manner that shows his masterful transition from the music act severely criticised for his lack of stage presence many years ago to one holding it down for several minutes with impressive confidence.
Like Wizkid, his performance was spiced with the addition of Femi Kuti’s saxophone performance which was so delicious to the ears it sent palpable excitement into the crowd.
Starting with ‘Spiritual healing,’ a song whose themes are well connected to the ideals of Fela, 2face dazzled everyone and ‘One love’ is another song he performed in what went down as easily the best performance of the entire week.
Sure footed, exuding confidence, connected to the large crowd, 2face dug into his creative pouch to produce a master class performance which he capped with a wonderful rendition of his hit Afrobeat song, ‘Jeje’ off his newly-released Ascension album.
Timaya, who recently released his new album titled Epiphany, was also at the event during the past week, as were international guest star, Don Carlos and Sound Sultan, who performed hit songs like ‘Ole,’ ‘Koleyewon’ and others.
Other stars that performed in the course of the week at the event include Daddy Showkey, Patoranking, Seyi Shay, Saeon, Olamide, Jo-El, Zaina, Chidinma, Sulaiman Alao Malaika, Runtown, Harrysong and Oritsefemi.
Another music star who was well received in terms of his performance is self-styled Musical Taliban, whose second time ride in the plane of fame and fortune in Nigeria was made possible by his remake of Fela’s ‘Double wahala.’ Having been in the United States for some time, Oritsefemi stormed the Felabration stage on the last day and it was a sort of homecoming for the Ajegunle bred star.
Kennis Music star and 2face look-alike, Jo-El also did well on stage, performing his ‘Oya’ song alone without Oritsefemi in impressive fashion.
The memories of the 2014 edition of the annual Felabration would linger on for a very long time in the minds of those who were privileged enough to witness the week-long musical festival and celebration.
In a package that had something for everyone, DJs also took turns to thrill their fans who trooped out in large numbers to have a feel of them including DJ Step, DJ Da Next, DJ Tony Blaize and DJ Daposta who were the official DJs for the event. With much focus on pop stars and hip hop acts, Felabration had a large dose of entertainment for Fuji music lovers also.
After all, it was there that Afrobeat king, Femi Anikulapo-Kuti praised Fuji music star, Alhaji Sulaimon Adekunle, describing him as the next King of Fuji Music after KWAM 1.
Also featured at the 2014 Felabration were Yemi Alade, Tillaman, Mavins league, Niyola, Lynxxx, Solid Star, Danny Young and several others.
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