LEGENDS OF AFROBEAT

TREATMENT

ACT 1

LAGOS, NIGERIA

The coast road that travels through the port cities of Lagos, Nigeria, to Cotonou, Benin, then westward to Accra, Ghana, has since the late fifties been a well traveled route used by aspiring young musicians who gave birth to a profound, hugely popular form of music. A heady combination of traditional West African highlife music, Jazz, Soul, and Funk, a style pioneered by legendary music icon FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI and his band the AFRIKA 70. It was on this road  in the late 1960's that FELA,  then an aspiring singer and composer would cut early from his government clerkship, collect his drummer TONY ALLEN  and  speed west to their destiny in the history of music, and that of their tragic continent of Africa. It is on this same road that we will begin filming and telling the story of the Legends of Afrobeat.

The pair then in their twenties would traverse the coast visiting dozens of nightclubs that sprung up daily and arrange gigs for their band. Influenced by the writings of MALCOLM X, and the notion of KWAME NKRUMAH'S Pan-Africanism, they termed their new sound "AFROBEAT.”

The west African coast road illustrates all that is both grand and treacherous about modern-day Africa, it's blessings and it's curses, it is where in the early seventies, the AFROBEAT revolution first began. Choked streets, snarled traffic called " go slows", Baton wielding traffic wardens lovingly referred to as "YELLOW FEVER," rampant corruption, vast oil wealth, boundless native ingenuity and creativity, all became the inspiration for Nigeria's great afrobeat innovators. FELA and TONY ALLEN held epic dance parties that lasted until dawn that would become the stuff of legend. The" SHRINE",  AFRIKA 70's home base was arguably one of the most renown night clubs of the 20th century,   A place where visiting musicians, like PAUL MCCARTNEY, JAMES BROWN, GINGER BAKER, STEVIE WONDER, and MILES DAVIS would enjoy the innovative sounds of FELA'S AFROBEAT, using it as a source of inspiration along with other eye opening vibes of Africa.

1970's LAGOS was a vastly different place than it is today, it was a time when many of the rumors and myths of modern-day Nigeria were forged. Myths and images that persist today in magnified form - rampant corruption , unimaginable brutality dispensed by the police and military, a belligerent government of military dictators , and enormous disparities between rich and poor were all born during the 1970's oil boom years. The great LEGENDS OF AFROBEAT drew upon these hardships to fuel their progressive new sound in an attempt to both entertain and warn the populace of the harder times to come. Now LAGOS may have descended to its worst depths in a long history of deprivation, where all the ill’s FELA sung of are commonplace, and his prophetic vision have become a reality.

In the enormous shanty towns of AJEGUNLE, MAKOKO and MUSHIN are huge labyrinthine streets, filled with notorious treachery, yet in this maze live some of the legendary band members of the afro beat revolution, and it is here that we have come to find them; a film crew armed with several 16mm AATON cameras, amplifiers and sound equipment, a security staff and a small convoy of land rovers determined to find THE LEGENDS OF AFRO BEAT in the vast, complicated countries of the West African gulf.  We will film our search and attempt to piece together not only a foggy and incomplete recent history, but also attempt to restore to prominence the great music of the 1970's West Africa.  Hear the stories of these extraordinary men and women as we find them and proceed to return them to the stage beside their contemporary admirers at the up coming concert in BLACK STAR SQUARE.

We will at this junction intercut to the British disc jockeys that have inspired the renaissance of the Kings of the past. Young men who went to countries were government persecution of political dissent had reached an all time high, corruption now a national institution, public violence common place.  In their words “...this is a hell of place to go looking for music...” Yet the redemptive and rejuvenating grooves of Afrobeat have sustained them in their search for more and more of these rare innovative sounds.

Here in LAGOS they dove into the crumbling, recording studios, radio stations and record pressing plants of the old West African recording industry.  Searching for even more records, pressing plates, LP's, 45's, and master tapes of ever more elusive tracks as they attempted to get another glimpse into this fascinating and mysterious world. The music of great artists like SEGUN BUCKNOR, PETER KING, and HEDZOLLEH SOUNDZ would make such an impact, that the trio would cut several land mark compilations which would quickly become D. J. essentials on the international club scene. NIGERIA 70, GHANA SOUNDZ, and AFRO ROCK would re-introduce a vast array of classic seventies tracks.  it would be a revelation to many, thirty years after the tracks were initially recorded.

"it is impossible to squeeze the afro scene from Nigeria into one album,
you could do twenty albums and still not have covered much of it. There
 are literally thousands and thousands of records made there, and the vast
 majority  of non Nigerians have never heard it."

- Miles Claret, Soundways records

As the camera rolls in their apartments in the United Kingdom, MILES, QUINTON, and DUNCAN confirms the depth of their passion. The unstoppable addiction that is African music of this period has consumed them. Vast shelves of their immense record collections (Duncan Brooker owns an estimated 25,000 records) show the years of intense study and energy that has gone into their pursuit of this lost history. Clearly this is something that has completely altered the course of their lives. Most importantly they would forge close relationships with men and women who were once just sounds from grooves on a record and images on an album cover. Discovering each other, the ensuing relationship would allow these DJ’s experience the life conditions in which these erstwhile musicians lived, understanding that, that which they loved was quickly being destroyed by the harsh conditions of Africa itself.

" In some cases I'm the first person to talk to these guys about their music in thirty years ... I've seen incredible things, heard extraordinary  stories. In one instance I heard about people looking for a place to live be cause things have gotten so shitty in some of these places , that they would just go into the vaults of recording studios and just  grab all the tapes, and pressing plates and old acetates and just burn it all just to make room for a place to sleep.  It began to dawn on me  that if I didn't try to save this music no one would. I decided to build an archive and rather that just bootleg the music,  like others often do, I'd start trying to get the license and see what more I could discover.

- Duncan Brooker

It is impossible to visit LAGOS or discuss AFROBEAT’s influence without first confronting the giant figure that is FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI and hear of his legend. Though dead the story of his life is well known to most Nigerians, in a way unimagined in the west; a pop musician , a social rebel , "CHIEF PRIEST", the "BLACK PRESIDENT" - he was the flip side of the official picture of the Nigerian state of affairs and by extension those of Africa. After ruling the dance floors of Lagos, FELA the AFRIKA 70 ultimately would be destroyed by the politics they so bravely confronted in their music. An atrocious military raid in 1977 would engulf and destroy FELA'S home and commune; the KALAKUTA REPUBLIC. Band members after being brutally beaten were imprisoned, FELA nearly killed by soldiers

before being dragged to prison, his mother, a famous feminist and anti-colonial crusader; thrown from an upper story window, to later die from her wounds.

A government inquiry would charge no one for any misdeeds in the incident, citing an "UNKNOWN SOLDIER” as the culprit. This raid effectively ended a creative peak for the band and sent them into intense turmoil. The government of Nigeria banned AFRIKA 70 from taking the stage in Nigeria. They were refused entry visas to perform gigs in GHANA. Following these incidents FELA'S record company decided to add insult to injury; under government pressure it refused to issue more records fearful of their political content and also refused to pay thousands of Naira in royalties owed for music already sold. The raid would also reveal to Nigerians that the military government and its soldiers would now no longer be held accountable for acts of violence against civilians, proving definitively for the first time that dissent would be punished harshly with no legal means of redress - it was a startling revelation.

FELA and AFRIKA 70 would travel to the 1978 BERLIN JAZZ FESTIVAL, in a last ditch effort to both triumph over their tormentors and ironically introduce a world to the AFROBEAT they had pioneered  ten years earlier. Now broke and fearing for their lives underpaid and frustrated, the band was greeted by a hostile crowd and an even more hostile press even though the performance in itself was of particular brilliance. Expecting jazz virtuosity in the western sense they were confronted with FELA's heavy dance style and burlesque performance. Expecting an indigenous African style they were confronted with FELA'S angry, confrontational lyrics and funk infused style. With the performance banned in Nigeria, the message failed to reach FELA'S intended audience. Complicating the scene further, FELA at the height of his hubris would announce his intention to run for the presidency of Nigeria.

All told it was more than any one expected. After the Berlin show the AFRICA 70 would prematurely disband , and the men and women , would dissolve attachments forged over decades and embark on new lives; content to live, rather than face more persecution and possible death at home. Berlin would be the last show with the men who had fueled the sound of FELA'S formidable compositions, and held his beat for ten years, The same band that had weaved music around his myth. In spite of his fame and infamy, to gain a clear picture of the man and the music is as difficult to manage as the LAGOS traffic.  Each new person we meet will contribute a little more to this incredible story; we will also use archival footage in capturing his true essence.

This brings us to Tony "the greatest Drummer out of Africa" Allen, the co-founder of the AFRIKA 70 band. One of the kings of the past we have already found. It is obvious to anyone that the man was born to and lives to play drums. Afrobeat is nothing if not infectious and that is Tony's secret. Mastery over his instrument insures that the beat gets under your skin, it is almost impossible to sit still when one hears it. He may be sixty five, but this beat is timeless, it’s magic endemic to the percussion that can draw anyone and everyone in. An example of this is an impromptu session he performs at his home in Paris, as the jam session gathers pace, young people arrive out of nowhere, and move to Tony's groove, a drum sound as propellant and relevant to dance music and hip hop as it was to AFROBEAT thirty years ago. DAMON ALBARN of BLUR and GORRILLAZ fame agrees;

" I love Africa, it is an incredible place, and for all the obvious reasons people fall in love with it , these guys are incredible musicians ,  I don't even attempt to put my self in league with them. luck for me I  had written a track  with the line,’ Tony Allen's got me dancin'  in it. I think someone might have played it for him, and out of the blue he got in touch with me and offered to cut some tracks with me. Who could refuse an invitation like that? "

Tony has worked with DAMON regularly, and tours with their new band; THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE QUEEN. DAMON is on to something that FELA knew back in 1965 when the two men met and that all of AFRICA knows to be true; TONY ALLEN is the king. But a king without his army is a limited force.

Our cameras will follow him to meet his destiny as he rejoins us on our journey across the coast road, meeting the other artists he held so much influence over, reminiscing about the crazy days when AFROBEAT was king, and driving with us to the day when AFRIKA 70 takes to the stage in BLACK STAR SQUARE.

Once again we cut to one of the British Dj’s; Miles Claret speaking from his abode in London;

”…What i wanted to do with AFRO BABY was show that there was more than
 many people know. There is a Fela Kuti track on this ALBUM. but its a track that has never been issued- it only ever came out on 45." There are a few musicians here who appeared on the NIGERIA 70 comp that STRUT  put out,  but I wanted to show that they weren't anomalies who only released one record or B- side. These are guys who were key to the scene there were hundreds of guys doing the same thing - it is simply a case of putting out music that deserves  to be heard”

While busily strolling through the streets of Lagos in search of such legendary figures like, FRED FISHER, THE BENDERS, and the LIJADU SISTERS,  the path leads to one of the more potent ironies in the history of AFROBEAT music. OBASANJO the current Nigerian president was also president when FELA and AFRIKA 70 were at their peak. Many believed it was he who ordered the military to act against their outrageous stage shows and dissenting voices.

With problems in West Africa of such enormous magnitude it seems hard to believe a mere song would incite the armed forces to act. Yet the passion and power of delivery, the blatant humanity at the center of afrobeat held more power than fear, and this perhaps was cause for alarm.  At this point we will discuss the relevance and the history of political dissenters in Nigeria, in audience with President OBASANJO and other players of the time.  It remains to be seen if NIGERIA is yet ready to embrace the conflict, flamboyance and significance of artists it once considered to be a social menace.

Meanwhile a chance encounter with Nigeria's SEGUN BUKNOR paints a picture of the time before, when the countries of West Africa were poised for greatness and idealism and euphoria was in the air.  A time when American style funk , and black power attitudes were fusing with the heavy African Rhythms  mixing into a potent energetic new sound and attitude. Everyone was trying to be more ELVIS than ELVIS!

”By 68' People now felt they could marry all the new trends with indigenous musical
 styles. we started playing our own compositions like Son of January 15th ( the date
of the 1966 coup that sparked the Nigerian Biafran war in 1967) and " Love and
Affection." We were trying to have an identity. With that came the shaving of the hair,
unbuttoned leather waist coat, chains" it was a shedding of the clothing and attitudes
of colonial times, the English suits, and the English attitudes.”

- SEGUN BUCKNOR

When SEGUN BUCKNOR and the REVOLUTION take the stage again in BLACK STAR SQUARE it becomes obvious that “LOVE AND AFFECTION" and "YOU KILLING ME” are blazing tracks that compete easily with JAMES BROWN or FUNKADELIC. The bass lines , the gigantic horn punches move the dancing crowd , a revelation to many, heavy Funk grooves that you cant live with out, everyone moves , a discovery that old men and women , who walk the streets now, where once pushing with such heavy sounds. Kings of groove equal or better than the household names in the west, and yet one can never forget

that with tracks like " SON OF JANUARY 15th" (a song about the 1966 coup that sparked the Biafran war) we are faraway from Detroit or Chicago, these are songs tailored to the plight of Nigeria, colored by the checked and difficult history of West Africa. It is at this junction, we take leave of Nigeria, our new found gems of the past in tow.

ACT 2

BENIN, COTONOU

The convoy is decked out with a power sound system, the trunk loaded with film and equipment, driving westward to the Lagos/Benin border - it is one of the most notorious border crossings in the world, a place where a passport could disappear for days on end, this will make for interesting filming as we attempt to capture whatever unfolds on tape by the ways of cinema verite.

The convoy crosses into BENIN, sights are set clearly on the capital city of Cotonou. The French speaking people of BENIN in the early 1970's were eager to put there own spin on AFROBEAT. So the search is on for the bands of the 70’s that were the architects of the mutation. As we search for the former members of the PICOBY BAND, El REIGO and his LOS COMMANDOS, the BLACK DRAGONS et al, we hope that the inevitable - immigrations, imprisonments, religious conversions or deaths won’t prevent us from getting these performers to take the stage once again. In places like Benin, Ghana and Nigeria, and all over Africa , each nation has a tendency to produce one truly masterful band, thus ab initio we will focus on one such band and in Benin the band is the impressively titled T.P. Orchestra Poly- RYTHMO du Cotonou  a band formed in 1966 that purportedly is still active  in some form today.

A background history of the band runs thus; MELOME CLEMENT, ESKILL LOHENTO, and FRANCOIS HOESSOU are the heart and soul of this band. They became the house band at the 'CANNE AU SUCRE" nightclub after a brief sojourn in Lagos in the early 1970's. They cut a slew of 45's for the very avant garde ALBARIKA store chain while at AFRODISIA recoding studio and would share musical sensibilities with the many other bands enjoying the wave of the afro scene.  A record pressing plant would open in Cotonou in 1975 and they would press through the seventies nearly a hundred 45" records of the bands driving music.

From 1963 to 1972 there would be five coups in Benin, nine changes of government and five different constitutions.  In 1972, MATTHEW KEREKOU seized control of the country and imposed the Marxist ideology over the country - all of these things would conspire to severely curb nightlife for the coming years and forever limit the impact and legacy of Poly RYTHMO"S music, effectively halting an expansion into the larger world beyond BENIN'S borders. Miles Claret's compilation: "THE KINGS OF BENIN URBAN GROOVE" would be the first indication such a band existed too those who had not traveled there.

As our film rolls; CLEMENT and LOHENTO show us around BENIN and calls are made and messages sent to uncover the remaining members of the band, luckily most of POLY- RYTHMO is intact and the job has been lightened significantly by the love the people of BENIN have for their local band.  Travel arrangements are made to bring everyone together for the big event, excitement is palpable, and the brightness of an unknown and interesting future brightens everyone’s eyes.  This spontaneously forces a semi private impromptu performance from the band for the crew and lucky spectators, in a Cotonou nightclub. We catch all this on tape as we journey westwards towards Ghana and the future that awaits us in BLACK STAR SQUARE, more gems from the past in tow.

ACT 3

ACCRA, GHANA

Continuing westward to ACCRA in GHANA we see the scenery of the ocean front change to the rustic landscape of towns bubbling with grassroots commerce. Countless beer parlors from which African music blare forth, stand at the roadside. Some of this music is of contemporary artistes while some serenade us with the harmonies of yesteryears. As our cameras roll and captures all these, it becomes apparent that the mixtures of politics and music has been both a blessing in creative aspects, fueling the sensibility of Afrobeat rhythmic complexity and attitude, and confrontational spirit, while a curse in invoking the wrath of the government.

Retrospectively the banning of FELA'S MUSIC from Nigeria's airwaves would create an innovative subculture. This at the time was not one sided because in 1978, Nigeria would ban imported records altogether and this will in turn decimate the recording industry of neighboring countries. As the decades wore on with ever worsening conditions both politically and economically, it would eventually force prolific artists into exile in the western world, where some of them would find themselves in dire conditions.

Self imposed isolationism in these West African countries would drive the recording industry to the brink.  Economic strife would ultimately destroy the record pressing industry itself (there was literally no more plastic available to press records) this coupled with the explosion of cheaply available audio cassette tapes, full blown piracy became endemic. Cut these artistes from making money off recordings. Added to this, the recycling of tapes in studios would destroy master recordings of earlier tracks, resulting in artists loosing control of their music. This would not only limit the appeal of West African Afrobeat and Funk derived styles, it would also leave the musicians there to find other means of survival. One of the greats of this era is K. FRIMPONG whom we will attempt to find, documenting the search and his story on film. Duncan Brooker has earlier plied the route and this is what he says;

”I needed to trace a producer called James OFRI...OFRI has become a poultry
 farmer . He lives in a two story house - the lower level is taken up with chickens while he and his family live upstairs . He was amazed to see me . telling me he hadn't spoken to anyone about his music in seven or eight years, and started getting out all his photos of his studio and musicians in enormous flares and Afros. I told him i was looking for music by K. FRIMPRONG " I have a copy of the cassette here some where", he said. He found it and put it on... I told him I wanted to license the music, so that it could be heard out side Africa "No, no. Come with me ," he said, and led me downstairs into a room filled with chickens. he started pulling out bags and reels of tape crusted with a thick layer of chicken shit and dust… "MY God" he was saying, looking into cans of tape ."I  don't know what's in this one . I haven't looked in here for twenty years . Which track were you after? he asked "KYENKEN Bi ADI M' AWU" I said (which means come back my love in the local language.) "I  cant believe you still got it "  said when  he found it…”

KYENKEN BI ADI M'AWU now comprises the signature riff of the GNARLS BARKLEY hit “STORM COMING " - one of 2006's best selling albums. We film on as the Caravan rolls through seaside towns, shanties and villages, spirits are high. It becomes clear that to create a list of musicians to participate-in this concert would be to limit the scope and scale of an historic cultural event. Time is running short, the concert is drawing closer, the schedule of COMMON and KANYE, BIG BOI and ANDRE 3000 is tight. Finding the remaining artists is still difficult and time available to get people practicing and getting everyone in shape to perform is running out.

A streamlined approach is now taken and we rely on one of the oldest forms of communication in west Africa to complete our task - relying on the music itself.  We let the beat direct us on our journey.  We play the old music from speakers in side nightclubs, at intersections and dirt soccer pitches and at curbside restaurants. We enlist the support of the public in the quest to find men like KWANDO DHONKOH, ESSILIFFE BONDISIE, the OGYATANGA Show Band, ALEX KONADU, the AFRICAN BROTHERS, K. FRIMPRONG AND THE CUBANO FIESTAS. 

As our cameras roll, children dance and dart about, calling their elders to come and see, Dancing breaks out on side streets as do the memories and disbelief and most of all nostalgia of the past and intrigue at the future.  We spread the word of the upcoming concert, teenagers get very excited by the prospect of seeing some of their favorite acts like OUTKAST and KANYE, and COMMON, yet show utter disbelief that they would care about the old players who have been living in their towns and cities all these years.
EBO TAYLOR; Ghana's great guitarist and composer paint the situation in clearer terms;

“Nostalgia is a bit of a western luxury .. what we really hope is that we get a new generation of musicians  fusing elements  of the musical heritage  from the west africa of the sixties and seventies and modernizing it, taking it in new directions, its been a sad situation in West Africa these days ,  a lot of kids don't want to learn trumpet  or the saxophone or even drums- they want to rap which is cool but there is so much more to music. Music is a deep journey,  you learn so much more than about sounds , you learn about history , you connect with people from other places and other generations,  you relate to people that you might never have met before, like Miles and Duncan. I think its good to show the young that they don't always have to look outside to MTV and America . They have an incredible musical heritage from which to draw from and to reinvent. This music sustains us, in-spite of everything we have been through in our countries, war, unrest, inflation, strife, we have always had our music to sustain us , to make us happy"

Luckily men Like COMMON, KANYE , GNARLS BARKLEY and others have been doing just that, Merging the sounds and sensibility of West Africa into they're new sounds and taking the international pop world by storm. They are proud to point their fingers and shine some of the spot light upon the men and women of the West African scene of the 70’s

Posters for the BLACK STAR SQUARE concert start going up, and the heated atmosphere of excitement begins to grow more and more powerful. Men bring children and grand children, people camp out in the square in anticipation, and a chance to see these artists take the stage again. The depth of the journey takes another dimension; more and more of the old musicians come to find us!  Eager to contribute their part to the story. Men like Quinton, Miles and Duncan, sit at stage-side bewildered at who comes out of the wood work to speak and play. Back stage a group of men gather, they embrace one another in greetings that evaporate the years since they last saw each other. Age appears to drop from their shoulders, smiles brighten their faces, QUINTON, DUNCAN, and MILES, stare on amazed, a day has come that they never thought they would see.

The sun is setting behind the great arch of NKRUMAH'S monument at the top of Black Star Square; the men grab instruments and climb the steps to the stage. The crowd erupts. ADO NETO, FRANK ABODI, ISAAC OLALEYI, JAMES IBIOMI, TUNDE WILLIAMS, LEKAN ANIMASHAUN, SHENO ADO, and TONY ALLEN take the stage; a thirty year circle has been completed. The mandate of NKRUMAH’S MONUMENT - to honor the men and woman who have struggled to make a new Africa has been fulfilled. The AFRIKA 70 and others like them have taken to the stage once again to bring their music to the world.
They are the legends of afrobeat.