Musically Speaking – Ginger Baker in Africa & Fela Kuti

Please join us for “Musically Speaking” – A weekly series of music-themed movies and documentaries, curated and hosted by DJ Soul Sister, with support from Charitable Film Network, Press Street, and WWOZ.  FREE Admission and Refreshments.  Seating is limited.  For more information, contact soulsister@post.com.

GINGER BAKER IN AFRICA
In November 1971, Ginger Baker, the legendary drummer of Cream and Blind Faith, decided to set up a recording studio in Lagos, then the capital of Nigeria. Baker was one of the first rock musicians to realize the potential of African music, and decided that it would be a rewarding musical experience to travel to Nigeria over land across the Sahara desert – a journey that would lead him into a number of adventures, including a number of legendary jam sessions with his friend at that time, Fela Kuti, pioneer of Afrobeat music. This film by Tony Palmer follows Baker’s odyssey as he makes his journey and finally arrives in Nigeria to set up his studio, which would run successfully through the 1970s as a facility for both local and western musicians (Paul McCartney’s Wings recorded Band On The Run there). (1973, 53 min.)

FELA KUTI: Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense
Fela Kuti, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, producer, political activist, and international superstar of African music, created Afrobeat music in the 1970s. Not simply a genre-blending mixture of African, Afro-Caribbean, and Black American music and nationalism, Afrobeat was, to Fela, a political weapon in his works of social justice and human rights activism. This documentary examines the life and music of the legendary artist. (1984, 55 min.)