First of all let me mention that I've just completed my second installment in my series "50 Observations on 50 years of Nigeria." I'm giving it a day or two for a fresh-eye proofread, and I'll post it on The Nervous Breakdown probably tomorrow. In part 1, item 9 I said "Fela Anikulapo Kuti. 'Nuff said. We've always known he's the man. Nice to see the world catch up."
I recently ran across video of a Fela performance in Calabar in 1971, shot by the legendary drummer Ginger Baker who recorded with Fela. Calabar is where I was born, and this concert would have been taking place as I was perfecting my toddling technique a few miles away (though I did also spend a lot of time rather farther away in my maternal home town of Ikot Ana). It's quite something to see that infectious energy of Fela. This was in the early years of his superstardom, and you can still feel the raw edge to the band which would grind its way to such unbelievable chops.