Name: Opposite People / Sorrow Tears and Blood
Brand: Fela Kuti

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

wrass075

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Discs

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2010-04-19

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Universal

Tax rate GB

UPC / Barcode

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Fela Kuti

Genre GB

African

Label GB

the two albums included on 'opposite people' / sorrow tears and blood' book-ended the nigerian army's deadly raid of the kalakuta republic, fela kuti's self-appointed independent state domicile, and kuti's hostile feelings toward upper-class nigeria are prominent on both sessions. opposite people, recorded between 1976 and 1977, is brave and brassy, beaming with an almost joyful defiance on the title track. this album isn't particularly outspoken, focusing on the celebration of freethinking and only referring to politics through a metaphor about pants (yes, pants). but 'sorrow tears and blood', the first recording released after the kalakuta's capture, is fiercer; the band's sound almost seeming to drip blood. slower and more persistent, the ominous grooves here no longer bother with metaphor, crying out bluntly, 'some people lost some bread, someone just died...them leave sorrow, tears, and blood.' alongside woody guthrie's struggle, this is as stirring as musical social protest gets. 'sorrow tears and blood' boils over with fela's singing and the frantic call-response of horns and chorus; the scattering sounds of people fleeing a police-and-army attack. and 'colonial mentality' calls for a united africa to stand up against its widespread leftovers of imperialism. the entire collection is chock-full of kuti's distinctive polyrhythmic orchestra-funk in top form.

Opposite People / Sorrow Tears and Blood

Music GB