EXCLUSIVE: President Barack Obama said earlier today that the U.S. was in a “political crisis of the sort that we haven’t seen before”.
The former Commander-in-Chief is also focusing on political resistance of a different sort with a new podcast about Nigerian musician and political activist Fela Kuti.
The Obamas’ Higher Ground is behind Fela Kuti: Fear No Man for Audible.
The 12-part series, which launches on September 18, explores the true story of Fela Kuti, the classically-trained Nigerian musician who created the Afrobeat music genre as a revolutionary language of resistance against oppression.
It will be hosted by Jad Abumrad, who was behind the hit podcast Dolly Parton’s America and was part of Radiolab.
It forms part of a first-look deal that Higher Ground struck with the Amazon-owned audio company after their pact at Spotify ended.
For years, the world’s biggest stars journeyed to Nigeria to experience Fela’s Shrine, the physical home for his musical revolution. But when the mix of art, activism, and defiance got too hot, the state pulled out its guns and literally opened fire.
Kuti was an outspoken critic of Nigeria’s military juntas in the 1970s. He founded the Kalakuta Republic commune, which declared itself independent from military rule but the commune was destroyed in a raid in 1978 that killed his mother. He was later jailed by the government.
Fela Kuti: Fear No Man is a mix of oral history, musicology, journalism and sound design. It features over 200 interviews with Fela Kuti’s family members, his friends and musicians, as well as historians, activists, and luminaries like Burna Boy, Paul McCartney, Questlove, Ayo Edibiri, David Byrne, Santigold, and President Obama
The series is exclusive to Audible until October 15 when it will be made available widely across all podcast platforms – a rare move for the company – and designed to tie into Felabration, an annual festival held in Lagos, Nigeria honoring his birthday.
It is produced by Western Sound and Talkhouse. It is the latest podcast for Higher Ground, which is behind IMO with Michelle Obama & Craig Robinson, The Wonder of Stevie, Your Mama’s Kitchen and Michelle Obama: The Light Podcast.
“It’s interesting to put things in perspective as we celebrate the 25th anniversary of Felabration. Fela poured his hopes and beliefs out in his raw and unfiltered newly invented genre of music aiming to inspire change in the mindset of so many people. He took fearless risks that probably led him to being the most incarcerated musician in history,” said Made Kuti, grandson of Fela Kuti. “Today his music inspires musicians and listeners all around the world, but his nation that he tried so hard to help to develop is arguably several times worse than it was while he was alive. Today so many of us carry on his vision for a better future and Felabration is just one of many ways we show how thankful we are for all the risks he took to inspire us.”
“Fela is a thousand things, and I hope we captured some of that complexity in this series,” added Jad Abumrad. “He’s a movement builder, a cult leader, a groove weaver. But for me, what makes him so hard to shake is that his life asks a question: when the world is spinning out of control, what’s the right response? His weapon was music. And for a moment, that was enough to almost topple a government and create a new world order. Can art actually save us? I hope it can but I’m still not sure. On my more optimistic days, I reach for a Fela record.”
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