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much going on, my music re ects the chaos.”
Growing up, the natural inner turmoil of adolescence was
magni ed exponentially by the turmoil experienced by his
family and his country. at was also re ected in his early
attempts at playing music, Kuti observes: “As a young man
growing up, I was very anxious and angry. … Learning the
trumpet, I became frustrated because I thought it was going to
be an easy task. It was very di cult. But the end result was, it
made me a better person, cooler, wiser.”
e instruments he chooses to best express his muse are
trumpet and saxophone, although he also dabbles in piano—
“very badly,” he says with a chuckle, “to nd the chords, to get
the bass line or the melody. e piano is a major factor of my
compositions. Well, I probably start them o while sleeping, in
a dream, waking up to a melody. ose are fantastic tunes.”
Kuti brings a new perspective to his signature sounds on
One People One World
—liberally adding tracks about inspi-
ration and love to his signature political anthems. e album
kicks o with “Africa Will Be Great Again,” hits a high point
with the title track, and winds down with an Afrobeat take on a
ballad, “ e Way Our Lives Go (Rise and Shine).”
“ is has to do with my age, where I am right now with
my life,” Kuti says. “ ‘ e Way Our Lives Go,’ it re ects a very
quiet area. So maybe I was on tour [when I rst started com-
posing it], somewhere very quiet, and this music re ects my
subconscious.
“As a father,” he continues, “I have to be optimistic in many
things I do. I have to give them hope. I think I’m very happy
where I am right now. I’m at peace with many things around
me, so that’s re ected in this album.”
Family was very much on his mind during the months
or so he spent working on
One People One World
, because his
eldest son, Omorinmade—Mad
é
for short—joined the band in
the recording studio. ( ey’ve also played live shows together,
not just in Lagos but recently in London and Paris.) It’s an
obvious generational mirror, because Femi played with Fela’s
band; but also Mad
é
is following in his grandfather’s footsteps
by studying music at England’s Trinity College of Music.
Kuti, the father of nine children
(six biological and three adopted), says
the experience of making music with
-year-old Madé was “fantastic, one of
the most beautiful things. … I think he’s
a better person than I am, and he’s going
to be a better musician than I am. Noth-
ing he’ll do will really surprise me. e
way he walked into the studio, the way
he takes his school life seriously, the way
he relates to issues—at his age, I wasn’t
doing all of this.”
Kuti was at home in Lagos during his
interview with
Ravinia
Magazine, so the
conversation naturally turned to how he
approaches performing in Chicago ver-
sus performing in Lagos, where he’s of-
ten heard at his home club, e Shrine.
(It was established by Kuti and his older
sister in memory of their father.) “First
of all, my priority is to show the beauty
of Africa. at is my rst rule,” says the
informal cultural ambassador. “I will say
this before the gig: I want them to see
the beauty of Africa through music, so
I get them in a trance. I just want them
to see Africa in its true light. I use the
colored costumes, the music, the sound,
and everything to express the pain, the
sorrow, and the joy we have. And I hope
that they will experience this though the
music.”
Web Behrens covers arts, culture, and travel for the
Chicago Tribune
and
Crain’s Chicago Business
.
He’s also worked as an editor and contributor for
Time Out Chicago
and the
Chicago Reader
.
RAVINIA MAGAZINE | AUGUST 6 – AUGUST 19, 2018
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