zombie

Fela Kuti drew admiration and aggression with the wicked political satire of this explosive Afrobeat exposition. 'Zombie' took Kuti's polyrhythmic funk to the next level by comparing the soldiers of the brutal Nigerian regime to mindless monsters. His anger is focused into a humorous metaphor with a contagious groove that was embraced by the people; but the government was extremely displeased. Very soon after the release of the album, one thousand soldiers marched on the Kalakuta Republic commune where Kuti and his band Afrika '70 recorded the album and burned the place to the ground. In the process the soldiers threw his elderly mother from a window causing fatal injuries and nearly beat Kuti to death. Fela delivered her casket to the barracks and demanded that the army bury her body. He would later write the song 'Unknown Soldier' as a response to the result of the official inquiry that determined that the attack was committed by an unknown soldier. A year later, Kuti married tweny-seven women to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Kalakuta Republic. Many of these women were his dancers, composers, and singers. As part of African tradition, he married them to offer them protection from being destitute. He was banned from performing in Ghana after a riot broke out during a live performance of 'Zombie' in 1978. Later that year, Afrika '70 broke up after a show in Berlin. In 1979, he ran for President as head of the Movement of the People party he started and continued to record his revolutionary music and tour up until his death from A.I.D.S. in 1997.  'Zombie' stands as a defining work of defiance and determination from Kuti's extensive catalogue.

Kuti would later say of his life of hardship and imprisonment:   "Oh, as a matter of fact, I don’t think anything negative ever happened to me. It looked negative to the materialistic world, but in my spiritual life, which was now exposed to me or to other people, every suffering that I went through was like I was buying powers, I was buying health from higher powers. Every time I went through my sufferings, like they burned my house, beating, everything, every time I was in punishment it was not pleasant. But any time I went through it, I was always happy that I was able to stand it. And I would never regret that I went through it. I was out good, so you know, it’s beautiful. So every experience like this prison I went to, although it was terrible for punishment, after I was in I didn’t think I could really go through 18 months of prison and come out fine. So every stage of my difficulties was like what people call a 'blessing'."











http://fela.net/









Zombie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO8PnLAtAnc


Zombie o, zombie (Zombie o, zombie)
Zombie o, zombie (Zombie o, zombie)
Zombie no go go, unless you tell him to go. (Zombie)
Zombie no go stop, unless you tell him to stop. (Zombie)
Zombie no go turn, unless you tell him to turn. (Zombie)
Zombie no go think, unless you tell him to think. (Zombie)
Tell him to go straight. A joro, jara, joro.
No break, no job, no sense. A joro, jara, joro.
Tell him to go kill. A joro, jara, joro.
No break, no job, no sense. A joro, jara, joro.
Tell him to go quench. A joro, jara, joro.
No break, no job, no sense. A joro, jara, joro.
Go and kill! (Joro, jaro, joro)
Go and die! (Joro, jaro, joro)
Go and quench! (Joro, jaro, joro)
Put him for reverse! (Joro, jaro, joro)
Joro, jara, joro, zombie went a one way.
Joro, jara, joro, zombie went a one way.
Joro, jara, joro, zombie went a one way.
Joro, jara, joro.
Attention! (Zombie)
Quick march!
Slow march! (Zombie)
Left turn!
Right turn! (Zombie)
About turn!
Double up! (Zombie)
Salute!
Open your hat! (Zombie)
Stand at ease!
Fall in! (Zombie)
Fall out!
Fall down! (Zombie)
Get ready!
HALT!
ORDER!
Dismiss!





Mister Follow Follow"  






bonus tracks
"Observation Is No Crime"  



"Mistake" (Live at the Berlin Jazz Festival, 1978)