We were on our way to go see the free show with M. Ward and The Shins at Auditorium Shores last night, but we were downtown early and had time to kill. Fortuitously, we happened upon a free outdoor gig by Seun Kuti & Egypt 80! Seun is the youngest son of the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the little-disputed father of Afrobeat music. He grew up playing with his father and the band and took over leadership after Fela's death from AIDS in 1997. Coincidentally, we had just listened to his 2011 album the other day, From Africa With Fury: Rise, and were really psyched to luck into seeing Seun Kuti play.
Seun may not be his dad, but he possesses a lot of the fire and spirit, not to mention musical chops, that made his pop a legend. The band was tight and treated the audience to that patented endless groove, while Seun worked up a big ol' sweat testifying about political and social issues. The crowd was diverse and not too thick, so we were able to get some nice shots of Mr. Kuti and the great Egypt 80.
Cool. I'm going to check out his set at Coachella next month. I'm looking to do SXSW next year so we will need to talk since I've never been.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely K - SXSW is quite an experience, even for the hangers-on like me
ReplyDelete