11/26/2012

FEMI KUTI & THE POSITIVE FORCE TO TOUR THE U.S.


FEMI KUTI & THE POSITIVE FORCE TO TOUR THE U.S.
 
Shows Will Preview Material From Forthcoming Album No Place For My Dream
 
On the heels of Femi Kuti’s GRAMMY-nominated most recent album, Africa for Africa, The Los Angeles Times said he “makes something more than music. His [albums] and hugely popular concerts (‘one of the more powerful live shows on Earth,’ according to The Onion) are imbued with the weight of family legacy and Kuti’s own individual intents. It is ‘music as message’ in a way few acts take on these days—protest and admonishment and hope all embedded in Afrobeat exuberance.” U.S. audiences will have the opportunity to experience Kuti’s unique artistry and world-renowned live performance when he and his big band, the Positive Force, tour the country in January 2013. Th e shows will feature music from Kuti’s new studio album, No Place for My Dream, which will be released in 2013 (label and date TBA).

The central aim of No Place for My Dream is getting back to the essence of Afrobeat, the music pioneered by Femi’s legendary father in the late ‘60s. Since beginning his career as a teenager in his father’s band, Femi has struck a delicate balance: carrying the torch, especially the activist dimension, of Afrobeat while developing his own sound. He has been equally committed to protecting, and going beyond, his father’s legacy. He played a key role in celebrating the recent opening of the Kalakuta Museum, which honors his father and his music in Lagos, and was instrumental in bringing the hit Broadway show Fela! there.
 
Femi recorded No Place for My Dream at the Zarma studio in Paris with the producer Sodi, who produced several Fela albums and has been working with Femi since the latter’s breakthrough, Shoki Shoki, in 1998. Femi just turned 50 in June 2012, and his maturity is audible in the new songs. He is reaching for a new level of musical excellence, and desires, perhaps more than ever, to be the voice of a deprived population. What propels the sound of No Place For My Dream is Femi’s band, the tighter-than-ever Positive Force, which will join him on the tour.
 
Femi Kuti & The Positive Force U.S. Tour Dates
 
January 7 
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 
Jam Cruise 11
 
January 13 
Miami, FL 
Grand Central
 
January 15 
Boulder, CO 
Boulder Theatre
 
January 17 
Solana Beach, CA 
Belly Up Tavern
 
January 18 
Los Angeles, CA 
El Rey Theatre
 
January 19 
San Francisco, CA 
The Fillmore
 
January 21 
Chicago, IL 
Metro
 
January 23 
Boston, MA 
Paradise Rock Club
 
January 24 
Philadelphia, PA
World Café Live
 
January 25 
Washington, D.C. 
9:30 Club
 
January 26 
New York, NY 
Webster Hall

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