Y’en A Marre and Rap Revolution in Senegal

Fadel Barro and Simon (right), Y’en A Marre founders,
at polling station to vote and monitor

By Michael Shereikis

No beating about the bush here, eh Abdoulaye? Revolution heading south...where y'at Bongo, Biya, et al? From 'kola (Bukola Jejeloye) of the The Afropop Blog, the official blog of Afropop Worldwide: 

On February 26th, the much anticipated elections in the West African country of Senegal took place. While official results are being waited upon, speculations are high that there will be a March run-off election between the incumbent 85-year-old president, Abdoulaye Wade and Macky Sall, his former prime minister and protege (they had a falling out due to Sall wanting accountability from Wade’s son, Karim, over some governmental expenditure). World famous Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour attempted to get on the ballot but his candidacy was invalidated by the country’s Constitutional Court...

…The country found itself in the grips of protests and riots last summer that extended into recent weeks before the election where six or more people were killed.  Reportedly leading these protests, sans the riots, are M23, a composition of civil society groups, ordinary citizens and opposition parties that arose from an uprising on June 23, 2011 protesting against a constitutional makeover by President Wade, and Y’en A Marre (French slang for "fed up"), a group of citizens including youths and artistes fronting for the frustrations of society at large. ..

So who really are they? According to its website, Y’en A Marre is “a citizens' initiative started at the outset by committed Senegalese artists (rappers) and journalists.” It was indeed founded by a small group of rappers including Thiat (Cheikh Oumar Cyrille Touré) and Kilifeu (both of the famed hip-hop band "Keur Gui of Kaolack" (see our October coverage of them here), Fou Malade (Malal Talla), Djily “Baghdad” Aidara and Simon Bisbi Clan (Simon Mohamed Kouka)… Many on the streets of Dakar are not surprised that rappers would help found a new political movement in the country as they have the ears of the street through their music which their fans adore...

...Then there is the music, the revolutionary hip-hop music underpinning the movement. It is only natural that Y’en A Marre would tap into its internal resources to make its voice heard. It also helps that Y’en A Marre’s founders have street credibility as they have been rapping revolutionary songs before they formed the group. But just to highlight its message markedly, the group also released a compilation at the end of last year, self-titled “Y’en A Marre”. The single “Faux! Pas Forcé” from the compilation has become the group’s anthem in its protests and on the lips of many desiring change in Senegal. Rap has come to make its mark in the politics of Senegal and I doubt it will be leaving anytime soon no matter how annoying it might be in the side of the establishment. Fela Kuti would be smiling in his grave now ... “Music is [indeed] the weapon.”

Then and Now

Then:



Now:

Stop The War with Afrobeat

Chopteeth hosts FUNK FOR PEACE event

The Rock And Roll Hotel
Washington, DC

Friday, October 19th

Show supports Iraq Veterans Against the War
With special guests Head-Roc and DJ Nitekrawler

Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band hosts “Funk For Peace” on Friday, October 19th at The Rock And Roll Hotel. Two dollars of every ticket sold will go to the DC Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War. Veterans will be at the show to provide first-hand information from Iraq.

“If we leave it up to the politicians, our troops in Iraq are never going to come home,” says Geoff Millard, President of the DC Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against The War (IVAW). “So we have to make it happen. We have to take charge of our democracy and end the war. IVAW is not waiting for an election to end the war.”

Funk For Peace will be an opportunity to get down with some of the most exciting dance music DC has to offer, while at the same time supporting expanded veterans benefits and a withdrawal of US soldiers from Iraq.

Chopteeth’s 14 musicians will deliver their celebrated blend of Afrobeat, West African funk, highlife and rumba. Hailed as “one of DC’s funkiest bands” by Washington Post music critic David Malitz, Chopteeth’s music is infused with the peace-and-justice spirit of Nigerian human rights activist and musician Fela Kuti.

Chopteeth will be joined by Head-Roc, the Mayor of DC Hip Hop, known for his positive, politically-conscious message as well as his profound groove. DJ Nitekrawler will also be spinning his special selections from his ridiculously wild funk, soul, and afrobeat dance party.

The Rock And Roll Hotel is located at 1353 H Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Contact The Rock And Roll Hotel at 202-388-7625. The show is for all ages and doors open at 8:30PM. Admission is $12.

Can't make the show? You can still make a donation to The Iraq Veterans Against The War.

What Would Fela Do?

By Robert Fox

Today is Fela's birthday, and he would have been 69 years old. What would he be singing about now?

No doubt he would include many of the same themes that he addressed during his lifetime: the ongoing exploitation of Africa in general and Nigeria in particular by the wealthy and powerful, from London to Lagos, Washington to Kinshasha; the sorrowful indifference of the governments in industrialized nations to the poverty, inequality and suffering their development models bring to much of the world; the madness of the war in Iraq; the unending massacres in Darfur and Congo.

I think Fela would certainly still be addressing the agonizing persistence of torture and inhumanity in prisons around the world, as a victim of military brutality himself. And I hope he would have eventually turned his immense charisma and musical power toward addressing AIDS prevention and education.

What kind of music would Fela be playing now? That's an interesting question. Given the changing trajectory of his music over the years, from jazz to highlife to funk to Afrobeat, I think it's safe to expect that he would have taken his music in new directions. The resurgence of Fela's popularity in recent years would presumably have given him a broader worldwide platform than ever.

Perhaps he would have moved to include hip-hop in his music, maybe adding a wider variety of collaborations, something along the lines of the Red Hot and Riot project? Maybe a step towards tighter grooves and melodies, e.g. Tony Allen's "Home Cooking?" Experimenting with remixes along the lines of Manu Chao or my new favorites from the neighborhood, the Fort Knox Five? Maybe Fela would have gone back to his roots in hard bop jazz and headed in the direction of current jazz-funk heros like Christian McBride or Galactic? Possibly he would have come to work more Latin influences into his music, like so many other West African musicians of his generation--think Ozomatli, Yerba Buena or Grupo Fantasma?

However, it's rare that popular music artists substantially change stylistic direction once they reach a certain age. It seems like many find a form that works for them artistically, musically and/or financially and they stick with it, although exceptions do stand out, such as John Coltrane, Miles Davis, John Zorn or Lou Reed, not to mention a more recent favorite of mine, P.J. Harvey.

But maybe Fela would have gone back to the old-school Afrobeat that he invented and no one has ever topped? So for Fela's birthday, check out the Birth of Afrobeat from this priceless live footage of Fela and Africa 70, from Ginger Baker's 1971 Africa documentary--any doubt who is in charge of this band?:

Afrobeat in America

By Robert Fox

The Sunday Washington Post ran a nice article about Afrobeat this week, featuring Antibalas and Chopteeth (photo right, by Veronika Lukasova). The article is by the Post music critic Stephen Brookes, and it’s one of the few pieces out there that takes an overview of the US Afrobeat movement and tries to make some sense out of it.

Here are some excepts---the article starts out with a review of a recent Chopteeth performance at a rally to support the organizing drive of sanitation workers at Camden Yards, the Baltimore Orioles baseball stadium:

It's a gritty afternoon in a gritty parking lot in a gritty South Baltimore neighborhood, and the crowd is starting to fade. For the past five hours at this human rights rally, poets and rappers have been taking the stage to one-up one another's outrage, and now even the most anguished cries -- "the beast of the United States is eating wherever it wants!" -- are met with little more than polite nods. The sky's getting dark, the slogans are getting tired, and you can see people thinking that the struggle for justice should maybe just take the night off.

Then a new band takes the stage -- and suddenly a driving pulse erupts, powerful and irresistible. It's unlike anything else at the rally that day… This music has the drive of 1970s funk, the subtle rhythms of Yoruba tribal music, the fire of Ghanaian highlife. And when the five-piece horn section kicks in, driving the energy higher, everybody -- everybody -- starts dancing.

"We're here tonight to see people get active!" shouts the band's leader, pumping a fist in the air. "Otherwise, it's all over!"

The music is Afrobeat -- a fiery brand of political dance music pioneered in the 1970s by the Nigerian activist Fela Kuti -- and the group is Chopteeth, a 14-piece big band that's part of an Afrobeat revival across the United States. Thirty years ago, Afrobeat was the most important new music in Africa, fusing James Brown-style funk, African rhythms and urgent messages of political confrontation. But it never became an international phenomenon like reggae, and nearly vanished a decade ago when Kuti died.

Over the past few years, though, this profoundly African music has found a new home -- in America.

Martin Perna of Antibalas (photo below) also provided an interview for the Post article, adding a perspective on Afrobeat and its message:

"Afrobeat was a way for me to merge my political convictions with my convictions as a musician. It's inherently a music of resistance and a music of struggle, and if you're going to reach people with any sort of message, you've got to put it to a beat."

Reinventing Afrobeat may be the key to its survival, its proponents say. The music is unlikely ever to enter the mainstream -- "there's too much stuff in Afrobeat for the market to dumb down," says Perna -- but if it's going to take root in American soil, it needs to adapt. The new players are hardly African firebrands. They tend to be American, white and mostly suburban. The music even seems to be turning into new, hybridized genre -- call it American Afrobeat -- with an agenda of its own.

"Most of the groups doing Afrobeat are either multicultural or predominantly white," says Perna, whose own background is Hispanic. "How they address the privileges they enjoy -- male privilege, class privilege, skin color privileges -- will give American Afrobeat its depth; looking within themselves, rather than just pointing. Anybody can point a finger at George Bush, or the Iraq war, or police brutality, and write a song about it. But the real depth comes from examining these other systems of privilege. And we try to do that in our music."

It continues to amaze me how Afrobeat musicians in the US and other parts of the world are adapting Fela’s music in new ways to reflect their own musical interests and their own message. The music is flourishing all over the world, and seems to only be growing in popularity and attention. Keep it going!

Chase Those Crazy Baldheads Out Of Town!

By Robert Fox

Well, it’s finally Election Day here in the United States. Today many of us are hoping to strike a blow against idiocy, corruption, incompetence and illegal brutality by voting out of office the clowns in Washington who have enabled George Bush’s Reign of Error for the last six years.

The Afrofunk Forum has attracted readers in 53 different countries since we started the site---to everyone outside the US: please take my word for it that lots of us are doing our best to put an end to our (and your) governance nightmare.

For an Election Day Special, check out Bob Marley in this classic video footage--let’s chase those crazy baldheads out of town!

Crazy Baldheads

I and I build our cabin
I and I plant the corn
Didn’t my people before me
Slave for this country?
Now you look me with such scorn
Then you eat up all my corn
We’re gonna chase those crazy baldheads out of town…

Build your penitentiaries
We build your schools
Brainwash education
To make us the fools
Hatred you reward us for our love
Telling us of your God above
We’re gonna chase those crazy baldheads out of town…

Here comes the con man
Coming with his conflam
We won’t take no bribe
We’ve got to stay alive
We’re gonna chase those crazy baldheads out of town…

Curtis Mayfield Is The Answer

By Robert Fox

Curtis Mayfield inspired people everywhere with his political vision, personal insight and ground-breaking soul and funk. The worldly music he laid down with The Impressions and on solo albums like “There’s No Place Like America Today,” and “Superfly” live on with enormous influence among musicians, fans and activists. These recordings are among my favorites in any musical genre. Curtis’s “People Get Ready” is an anthem for the ages, and is my personal standard for music to organize a revolution with.

Recently, there was a wonderful radio memoir related to Curtis Mayfield on the National Public Radio show “Studio 360.” It’s by Dave Alvin of the roots-rock group The Blasters. In the moving memoir, Alvin describes the challenges of his early music career, and how seeing Curtis Mayfield perform helped him regain his focus on what's meaningful and on why musicians are so fortunate. He describes how Curtis changed his life---I’m sure he’s not the only one.

Check out this wonderful streaming audio file (4 minutes) of Dave Alvin on the impact of Curtis Mayfield.

The music in the memoir is from the phenomenal Curtis/Live! album, recorded in 1971 at New York’s The Bitter End. All Music Guide calls it “simply one of the greatest concert albums ever cut by a soul artist.” It’s truly amzing, and still precisely on the mark politically.

Miriam Makeba Says Goodbye

By Robert Fox

Miriam Makeba is on her farewell tour at age 73, capping a lifetime of music, dance, exile and struggle. The anti-apartheid legend performed at The Cape Town International Jazz Festival on Friday, and was received with a level of respect "akin to worship of a deity" by the hometown crowd, as described in The Standard (Kenya).

The Guardian also saluted Miriam Makeba recently for her decades of struggle against apartheid as "an icon of resistance," noting that "along with Fela Kuti and Hugh Masekela, Makeba put African music on the world map."

The Standard quoted Makeba giving this moving farewell at her final Cape Town concert: In time we get older

"In time we get to mellow
I can’t change the hands of time
I have been through changes like everyone else
My heart has been troubled and put on the shelf
I love my children, more than anything.
iii…iii…iiiiiii…basi hapo zamani mama shauri ya pombe…iye ye mama…
I want to say thank you to those who raised their voices against the injustices of apartheid.
We say thank you to those who raised their voices for we know that without their voices we would not stand
today and say we are free, we are free, and we are free.
We want to thank our children for the role they played in our freedom.
We want to thank the mothers for their prayers that saved the nation.
We want to thank our traditional healers for healing the nation
We want to thank our leaders who
taught us how to be patient and who told us that though we may never forget we must forget.
Maskani… am home.
Let us make this country the greatest of
all because we are going to give each other a hand and make it strong."