Fela Kuti - Confusion

Fela Ransome Kuti & Africa 70's 1975 release
Confusion 
A Re-issue from Knitting Factory Records

This epic 1975 Afrobeat album contains just one eponymous track clocking in at just over 25 minutes in length, and beginning with a mysterious and psychedelic musical interplay between Fela on organ and Tony Allen on drums. As the song takes on a righteously funky groove, Fela evokes the chaos of Lagos – the multitude of regional dialects, the gnarly traffic jams, the absence of a policeman to take charge – as a metaphor for the larger problems of post-colonial Nigeria. 

Confusion is a commentary on the confused state of post-colonial, urban Nigeria, particularly Lagos, and its lack of infrastucture and and proper leadership during a period of military dictatorship. Kuti's lyrics depict the complicated, frenetic, and multilingual market of the Ojuelegba crossroad, and in doing so addresses what Nigerian historian Toyin Falola described as the "infrastructural nightmare of Lagos and the continued Hegemony of the West in all aspects of African life".

Side one is Confusion Part I
Side Two is Confusion Part II

Brand New SEALED LP from Knitting Factory Records courtesy of Kalakuta Sunrise