Well, the whole house has been humming his tunes for some time now, but they still pale in comparison of catchiness to his father Fela. But the show - the live, free, jam-packed show at Central Park Summerstage - was awesome. Explosive, dynamic, and a real outpouring of heart. Where his father seemed to be into the fun, crazy madness of carrying a 70-piece band around and blasting out endless, mad-danceable songs, Femi is much more controlled, and on CD, a little too tight. But live you get to hear the differences more properly.

Where Fela was loose and smirking, laughing and dancing, Femi comes in with a saxophone and wails, screams, cries out. From father to son the transition is made from a silliness belying a seriousness (Fela was very politically active) to a seriousness belying a groove. Femi is overtly political as well and his songs range from propositions of sex, which apparently enraged his native Nigerian government, to a song warning about the dangers of playing sport ("Dangerous Play"). Here I must digress.

Dangerous Play is an outright corny song, a total goof. In it, Femi seriously cautions against playing sports because, you know, you could get hurt. The house has been chuckling over this for some time - but back to the live music where it all went down right.

The show was unforgettable. Even that Dangerous Play song was great because it's damn catchy. Femi laid so much of his heart and soul out there for all to see while a very experienced band comprised of 5 percussionists, 5 horns, 2 bass guitars, Femi on his alto saxophone, and a half-dozen dancers kept up a massive beat. Femi is wailing on his sax, screaming out against all that seeks to cause harm, sanctifying heathen ears with screeches of heart-salvaging truth, and the band rocked on behind him.

And this type of thing, this mix of soul and soul-defining, is what music is about. Femi stood up there and surged-out some veins, swung his hips with the dancers, swung his arms up and in and again like a locust, and danced and wailed and spoke about how there was no Heaven that he believed in, but anything would be better than living here on earth. He meant it, you could tell. And then he wailed some more and you knew he was doing everything humanly possible to make this life electric and fight off death with the power of heart. And I was with him.

So, yeah, it was awesome. The CD, "Shoki, Shoki" can be disappointing. it is not produced well - it is levelled out. The sax needs to be brought out and the big bass needs to roll like a boulder. Unfortunately, the album is not produced for that effect. Still, it is a worthy buy. If Femi is performing in your hood, go see him.

Tony Leonardo
August 2000