Fela Kuti: Army Arrangement (Celluloid)

WITH MORE more pep in his step, and Bill Laswell by his side, Fela is back, up for the downstroke. Yes, that’s Fela Anikulapo Kuti, brave, multi-talented warrior/musician. The man who once fused protest and celebration with unparalleled success. The same Fela whose 1983 London show was the biggest musical disappointment of my life. The doped-out, sexist megalomaniac with the dodgy magician who I swore I’d waste no more time on... and yet, caught up in the click-back rhythms of ‘Cross Examination’, I pull the knife out of my back and say "Welcome back Fela!" Hero worship always ends in tears.