Fela Kuti - Yellow Fever / Na Poi (CD)

Fela Kuti - Yellow Fever / Na Poi (CD)

$19.99

CD

A condemnation of African skin-bleaching, Yellow Fever likens the practice to real diseases sweeping through the continent, employing a dark, percolating groove as a backdrop.

'Na Poi', originally recorded in 1972 and banned by the Nigerian Broadcasting Company, is featured here in a re-recorded version known as "Na Poi 75." An open expression of the sexual practices within his then-flourishing Kalakuta Republic compound, it is an intensely funky major-key jam driven by its clamorous horns and staccato bassline.

Na Poi features the original 25-minute 'Na Poi', a considerably starker arrangement with extended drum breaks, solos, and chanting.

'You No Go Die...Unless' is a kind of comfort jam to the thousands of rural villagers who moved to Lagos in search of wealth generated by the mid-'60s oil boom, punctuated by a quirky, clipped beat and Yoruba lyrics.

1. Yellow Fever
2. Na Poi
3. Na Poi, Pts. 1-2
4. You No Go Die... Unless