Red Hot + Riot: The Music and Spirit of Fela Kuti

Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 15, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Mca
• ASIN: B00006LWSB
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #87,237 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  Music > World Music > Compilations > Africa

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Never has there been a more appropriate Red Hot tribute than this one dedicated to the music of Afrobeat founder Fela Kuti, the Nigerian legend who died from AIDS-related complications in 1997. The artists and groups heard here, nearly 40 all told, cover the musical spectrum: hip-hop (Blackalicious, Roots), jazz (Roy Hargrove, Archie Shepp); soul (Sade, D'Angelo), Afrobeat (Tony Allen, Femi Kuti), world music (Baaba Maal, Jorge Ben), electronic music (Mixmaster Mike, Money Mark) and rock (Nile Rodgers). They have come together to raise money for the 25 million Africans now infected with the AIDS/HIV virus. Red Hot efforts often pair different artists together on the same song, and this album features many once-in-a-lifetime collaborations. Fela's music has been refashioned and mixed together here according to the styles of the artists, rendering several of the 20 songs barely recognizable in comparison with the originals. But such is the strength of Fela's music that even such singular-sounding artists as Macy Gray and Dead Prez get into the Afrobeat spirit of things. --Tad Hendrickson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning!, October 21, 2002

By	Jeff Gould (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This tribute to the "music and spirit" of Fela Kuti truly lives up to its title, unlike other tributes that merely exploit the legacy of great artists. But then again, this is what we would expect from the organization that put this out. Red Hot has been producing concept and tribute albums to raise money for AIDS research, each of which has been artistically well-executed and a labor of love. When Fela Kuti died of AIDS in 1997, he left behind an important legacy as an Afrobeat pioneer, protest singer, and cultural rebel. The artists who pay tribute to him encompass R&B, rap, neo-soul and blues royalty (D'Angelo, Common, Me'Shell Ndegeocello, Taj Mahal, Sade), as well as great African indigenous artists (Cheikh Lo, Baaba Maal). As diverse as their styles are, the musicians have managed to respect the Afrobeat roots and emotional authenticity of Fela's music - which is what makes this tribute truly great indeed. A few surprises here: Scratchy-voiced Macy Gray (love her or hate her) singing in Yoruba in Water No Get Enemy (featuring Fela's son Femi and D'Angelo) over the driving horns and heavy percussion anticipates a creative disaster, but the result is the one of the highlights of this album. Surprise #2: Fellow-Nigerian Sade contributes a dubby, echo-ey remix of her hit By Your Side spliced with Fela samples...the most radical thing she's done (by the way, this remix has been a hard-to-get underground hit for months, so its inclusion here is a double bonus). The great music and the important cause behind it makes this an album to get.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars red hot and revolutionary, November 4, 2002

By	A B Akinsiku (London, London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

this album is a near perfect tribute to Fela.Unlike the Marley kids produced tribute Album to their father 'Chant Down Babylon'The producers of Red, Hot and Riot have opted for Re-interpretation as a theme rather than cloning the original classics. Herein lies the strength of this album.
'Kalakuta show' is broken down and recontructed with verseral vision curtesy of Mixmaster Mike. 'Water no get Enemy' one of Felas masterpieces is scorching! Imagine Macy Gray singing in Pidgin English! Shuffring and smilling also gets an ingenius makeover by dead prez and Talib Queli.One of the only blemishes on this otherwise masterpiece is the cringeworthy bastardization of Felas magnus Opus 'Zombie'.Wunmis vocals on this song are painful to behold.Her vocals have no emotional content/sensitivity to the music.She seems content to just crash through the song like proverbial Bull in a China shop.
The main stength of this album also turns out to be its own weakness. The idea to re-interpret Fela songs featured here is probably taken a step too far on some songs. Some of the songs are totally unrecognisable...using only little snippets of his vocals or lyrics.This means we loose the urgency, humour, and bitting commentry of Felas lyrics.And as anyone who is familiar with his music will tell you, Felas words are just as important as his music.
Having said that, if you are looking for an example of what the next step in Afrobeat should sound like, or indeed if you are alover of music...look no further. This is near perfect!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect Tribute for a good cause!, September 6, 2005

By	Nse Ette (Lagos, Nigeria) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Fela was the founder and king of Afrbeat, and an inspiration to acts as diverse as fellow Nigerian Lagbaja, and US prog rock duo The Mars Volta (Yes!!). Sadly he succumbed to AIDS related complications in 1997. Fitting then that this tribute CD raises money for AIDS relief in Africa. The CD liner notes talk extensively on this.

Chock full of a diverse array of musical talent; Nile Rogers, Macy Gray, D'Angelo, Sade, The Roots, Les Nubians, Meshell Ndegeocello, Femi Kuti, Baaba Maal and Cheikh Lo to name a few. Most of the songs are reinterpretations of songs by Fela in the artists own unique style, usually arranged differently from the originals. Fela's original vocals are interspersed during interludes. An excellent blend of African meets African American.

`Water no get enemy' featuring Femi, Macy Gray, Nile Rogers, Roy Hargrove and D'Angelo stays faithful to the original; shuffling beats, rich percussion, and lots of blaring horns. It's a real treat hearing Macy and D'Angelo singing in pidgin English.

The vocals of Sade's `By your side' are imposed on a shuffling dubby Afrobeat rhythm. Echo-ey vocals and rich percussion, dreamy sounding. Excellent!

`So be it' featuring Kelis on vocals is the other non Fela composition. It is a calming R&B song with some African sounding backing vocals and great horns played by Ugochi Nwaogwugwu.

`No Agreement' by Res, Tony Allen, Ray Lema, Baaba Maal, Positive Black Soul & Archie Shepp is another outstanding performance. Great jazzy breaks and wonderful horns.

`Zombie (part 1)' is a bouncy hip hop/Afrobeat affair featuring Bugz in the Attic & Wunmi, with lyrics about the robot mentality of soldiers blindly taking orders from above. Written during the days of military rule in Nigeria.

`Zombie (part 2)' with Nile Rogers and Roy Hargrove is an excellent instrumental piece, closer to the original. An energetic horn laden, percussion rich number, with faint electronic tweets.

Another outstanding piece is `Shuffering and shmiling' featuring Dead Prez, Talib Kweli, Bilal and Jorge Ben. Transformed with skittery beats and some skat singing and rapping, and horns that stay true to the original. Beautiful!

Each song is musically rich and captivating in it's own way, be it `Gentleman', `Shakara/lady (parts 1 and 2)' with excellent guitar work, talking drums and razor sharp horns, to `Trouble sleep, yanga wake am'. The attention to detail is astounding, everything in its right place.

A beautiful CD showing the wealth and beauty of African music. Not meant to replace the originals at all, and a perfect tribute to the king.