Fela Kuti
Black Man's Cry
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AMG Review of Black Man's Cry
Roundup newsletter
All Music GuideFela Anikulapo-Kuti's "Afrobeat" music combines elements of West African highlife, horn-powered funk, jazz, and traditional Yoruba rhythms. Call-and-response African vocals deliver potent political and social lyrics that ride the massive grooves. And with most of the six songs on this compilation clocking in at ten minutes or longer, the grooves are indeed massive. Kuti -- a singer, songwriter, bandleader, keyboardist, and saxophonist -- guides his large band through "Black Man's Cry" (which features guest drummer Ginger Baker), "Zombie" (which the African government banned), and more material from the '70s.
 "Black Man's Cry")
