Fela Kuti On Bandcamp

If you're looking for African music releases you can hold in your hand, don't forget about Bandcamp.

Bandcamp, if you're not familiar, "is an online record store and music community where passionate fans discover, connect with, and directly support the artists they love." Those artists include a lot of African musicians whose physical releases you might have trouble locating for purchase.

For example, a while back I happened to notice that a bunch of Oliver Mtukudzi's albums were available through Bandcamp. I wrote briefly about those albums here. There are nearly two dozen albums there, provided by South Africa's Gallo Music label, and reasonably priced.

It didn't occur to me that Fela Kuti's albums might also be available at Bandcamp, but they are, right here. I'm still not real familiar with Fela's music, but I'm working to close that gap. I wrote about one of my first encounters with a full Fela album (Zombie) here.

There are nearly 60 albums currently available at the Fela Bandcamp site. To get the full effect, click away and take a look.

But in addition to numerous Fela solo albums, they include box sets curated or co-curated by Idris Elba, Erykah Badu, and Femi Kuti. Also, several live albums, including Live With Ginger Baker (1971), Live in Amsterdam (1984), and Live in Detroit (1986).

A few other highlights. Highlife-Jazz and Afro-Soul (1963-69), "a collection of recordings made between 1963 and 1969 that provide unique insight into the beginnings of Kuti’s craft. Koola Lobitos were the first expression of Kuti’s incredible talent and the start of his musical evolution that led to the Afrobeat movement."

Also, the Red Hot + Fela album, from "an AIDS awareness organization currently partnering with cross-genre collaborators representing rock, hip-hop, Americana, and classical.