Nigerian artist Seun Kuti is returning to Womadelaide for the first time since 2016. The youngest son of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, he now leads his father’s former band Egypt 80, after beginning performing with them at the age of nine, and taking the helm at 14 following Fela’s death in 1997. He walks an impressive tightrope of preserving and extending his father’s legacy and his live performances are nothing short of remarkable. It’s definitely the most powerful, joyous life affirming afrobeat this writer has ever seen.
He was the reason we started coming to Womadelaide way back in 2009 (you can check our review here) and he didn’t disappoint – and hasn’t subsequently (you can check out our review from 2016 here). You know exactly what you’re going to get walking in to see Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 – your mind blown and your ass shaking. You can check out our 2011 interview with him here, where he discusses the responsibility of musicians to be a voice for Africa.
He joins the likes of UK’s Hollie Cook, the return of incendiary Ukrainian outfit Dakhabrakha, Baaba Maal (Senegal), Nitin Sawhney (UK) and Emel Mathlouthi (Tunisia) and Melbourne’s own Black Jesus Experience, alongside about 70 other performers.
Womadelaide is on 8th -11th of March 2024 in Adelaide’s Botanical Gardens. You can find out more here.
