Fela Kuti News

The State Theatre has announced that the critically acclaimed Nigerian musical play, Fela and The Kalakuta Queens, will grace its stage in March and April this year.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. It's that time of year again. It's time for the most highly anticipated and largest Black History Month celebration in Los Angeles, if not, the largest in California.

Joe's Pub, a program and venue of The Public Theater, announces the new class of Joe's Pub Working Group (JPWG), the venue's artist development program dedicated to enhancing the career sustainability and growth of performing artists. Entering its fifth year, JPWG welcomes five artists performer and songwriter Migguel Anggelo, composter and vocalist Trevor Bachman, comedian and performance artist Becca Blackwell, jazz musician and composer Yacine Boulares, and singer-songwriter Treya Lam as the core group that represents the diversity and scope of the nightly programming at Joe's Pub.

Multi-GRAMMY Award-winning composer/pianist/educator Arturo O'Farrill and the non-profit The Afro Latin Jazz Alliance (ALJA) are thrilled to announce NYC's premier Afrobeat concert of 2019, ALJO + AFROBEAT = FELA!, featuring O'Farrill and his 18-piece Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) alongside Tony Award-Nominated Sahr Ngaujah (lead actor in the Tony-winning Broadway musical, Fela!). Today's singular forbearers of the Afrobeat genre take to the stage with O'Farrill to debut big band jazz arrangements of Fela Anikulapo Kuti's classic works as well as innovative collaborations with special guest artists Wunmi (vocals), Tosin Aribisala (drums/vocals), Bryan Vargas (guitar), and DJ Ausar. Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Fela!'s Broadway premiere in 2009, ALJO + AFROBEAT = FELA! will be presented in the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre @ Symphony Space on January 25 & 26, 2019. Artist interviews are available upon request.

El-Trip aka Earth Leakage Trip has released his brand new EP, titled 'Going To The Moon' via NexGen Music. One of the original pioneers of UK hardcore and techno, in 1991 El-Trip appeared on the debut release of award-winning label Moving Shadow Records and went on to release with many other highly influential labels, including Rising High Records and LTJ Bukem's Cookin' Records. On top of this, El-Trip has collaborated with many legends in the electronic music scene such as Aluna Francis, of acclaimed duo AlunaGeorge, during the time of one of her first, and highly acclaimed, projects, My Toys Like Me. El-Trip's music has been featured on many prestigious compilations, including the iconic 'Kaos Theory' compilation series featuring The Prodigy, Acen, Altern-8, 4-Hero, Hackney Hardcore and Shut Up & Dance, the 'Fifty Years Of Sunshine' compilation featuring Dr. Timothy Leary, Love Spirals Downwards, Psychic TV and Hawkwind, a compilation by Orbital featuring John Barry, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, PJ Harvey, The Divine Comedy and Tangerine Dream, and many more.

The Barbican today announces its full January to June 2019 Theatre and Dance programme. Tickets for the season go on sale to Barbican Members Plus on Wednesday 17 October, to Barbican Members on Friday 19 October and on general sale on Friday 26 October 2018.

Broad Fest returns on Sunday, September 2, 2018. This free outdoor event features music and dance, activities for kids and adults, plus snacks, sweets and food available for purchase. Members and subscribers, local families, college students and arts enthusiasts of all ages will enjoy an array of musical performances, DJ music and dance floor, drumming, movies and more.

Returning for its fourth year, Emerging Music Festival (EMF) features ten on-the-rise indie rock, pop, blues, and soul bands performing for thousands on the Bryant Park lawn. Almost all artists hail from the greater New York area, making EMF one of the city's largest celebrations of young local bands. Between sets, attendees can purchase beer and wine, eat food from local vendors curated by Hester Street Fair, borrow a free picnic blanket, learn to juggle, and play giant lawn games.

The nonprofit AT&T Performing Arts Center is pleased to announce the 2018/2019 season of The Elevator Project, featuring the work of small and emerging arts groups performing on the Center's campus in the Dallas Arts District. The Elevator Project's new season will feature productions from eight Dallas-based performing arts companies. The five year-old project has been hailed for the resources the Center provides new artists, including top-quality stages, operations teams, marketing, ticketing and mentoring support.

For five weeks in September and October, Red Bull Music Festival touches down in Berlin, bringing its acclaimed program of concerts, club nights and public talks to music and cultural venues across the city.

Get your groove on under the stars this summer as one of the hottest lineups of hip-hop, soul, funk and R&B artists is showcased at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) for two months of electrifying, free Thursday night concerts.

THE GREEN ROOM 42 - Broadway's newest intimate concert venue - has announced the return of Tony Award winner LILLIAS WHITE on Monday, June 18 at 7:00 PM. Currently back on stage in the new musical Half Time, White will offer a reprise of her February evening sharing music of love, lust, and loss in an intimate performance. Featuring music from Tim McGraw, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Cole Porter, and Nat King Cole, Lillias runs the gamut of the American Songbook

Free Radicals, a musical, political, and cultural force in Houston for over two decades, is releasing No State Solution, an album highlighting new remixes, new videos, and newly re-mastered tracks from their past six albums: The Rising Tide Sinks All (1998), Our Lady of Eternal Sunny Delights (2000), Aerial Bombardment (2004), The Freedom Fence (2012), Freedom of Movement (2015) and Outside the Comfort Zone (2017). No State Solution is a rejection of corrupt governments that can only make things worse, and a celebration of the communities that already have so many answers, if they can only throw off their mental and physical chains.

'Metronomic' is the debut album from anonymous London-born artist, DOKTA, released 14 May. With influences including Sun Ra, Fela Kuti, Aphex Twin, Orbital, and Isao Tomita, DOKTA fuses an incredible analogue set-up with live instrumentation, creating intensely rhythmic but cerebral electronic music that he performs fully live (he was recently signed to Little Big, the live agency for Aphex, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Autechre).

The Live @ Benaroya Hall stage plays host to best-selling author Sarah Vowell and Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino for a unique conversation about pop culture and history titled "The Old & the Dead." Tickets for their lecture and all the music events are on sale now, prices vary. Additional spring and summer shows for the 2018 season will be announced in the coming weeks.

On Friday, April 20, Flushing Town Hall resumes its popular Global Mashups series with Global Mashups #1: Latin Boogaloo Meets Afrobeat. Each season, musical artists from across the globe present - and then unite - their melodies in one-of-a-kind performances that are emblematic of Flushing Town Hall's mission to provide global music to a global community.

Seun Kuti and Egypt 80's Black Times is the lead single and title track of the modern day Afrobeat leader's brand new album... and for good reason.

Anna Karney has been making great music for many years, performing across the US and collaborating with many talented and notable artists. She has put out several singles and EPs as a solo artist and together with her band, and will release the fifth full-length KARNEY album of original songs titled NO MERCY in stores and online March 9, 2018. Keeping her mind on social justice and positive messages, Anna Karney's lyrical content offers a sardonic and sometimes straightforward approach to many of the issues facing people today, with a message of hope resonating throughout every song she writes.

The youngest son of Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti is as incensed by injustice as his father and, with the new album, honors the revolutionaries who have gone before and rallies the torchbearers to come. Black Times features appearances from Carlos Santana. With its rousing male and female harmonies, furious guitar riffs and Kuti's soaring tenor sax, the “Black Times” single gives us truth. Lyrics such as “Understand your history / rise to be free” shine a forensics-style black light on that which is otherwise hidden, intensified by the axe-work of Carlos Santana.

THE GREEN ROOM 42 - Broadway's newest intimate concert venue - has announced the return of Tony Award winner Lillias White one year after she performed for the grand opening of The Green Room 42 with her new show "Baby-Makin' Music" on Wednesday, February 14 at7:00 PM. Her brand new evening of music will feature songs from Broadway, blues, R&B and pop. Selections include classics from Harold Arlen, Ashford & Simpson and Irving Berlin, in addition to original songs by Timothy Graphenreed, the show's musical director, who leads an all-star quartet.