Fela Kuti "Water No Get Enemy" (1975)

Taken from his 1975 album "Exspensive Shit"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fela_Kuti


Expensive Shit is his twelfth full-length album. It is considered to be one of his best albums, and was ranked #78 on Pitchfork Media's "Top 100 Albums of the 1970s". The title of the album refers to an incident in which the Nigerian police tried to arrest Kuti by planting a joint on him. Kuti managed to eat the joint which prompted the police to bring him into custody and try to wait for him to produce the excrement. According to legend he managed to use another inmate's feces and was eventually released.

• Category

  Music

[adewaleaadesanya]

IN YORUBA TRADITIONAL RELIGION THE BASE SUBSTANCES (OR ELEMENTS) PLAY AN EXTREMELY ESSENTIAL ROLE, BECAUSE IN THE IFA (YORUBA TRADITIONAL RELIGION) BELIEF SYSTEM THE PHYSICAL AND THE SPIRITUAL ARE MUCH MORE FUSED; THEY ARE REALLY ONE AND THE SAME. EACH AND EVERY SUBSTANCE HAS A NAME, MANIFESTS AS A BODY AND CONTAINS SPIRIT(S) OR A SPIRITUAL ESSENCE, JUST AS A HUMAN BEING HAS A BODY BUT A SPIRIT WITHIN.

[adewaleaadesanya]

LET ME TRY TO EXPLAIN THE TRUE MEANING OF THIS SONG FOR THOSE WHO MAY NOT KNOW, BECAUSE IF YOU ARE NOT YORUBA OR DON’T SPEAK THE LAUNGUAGE OR ARE NOT AWARE OF THE CULTURE, YOU MAY NOT UNDERSTAND THE DEPTH OF WHAT FELA IS REALLY TALKING ABOUT.

[NajibL]

31 people don't know what is music...

[diggabledork]

Glad you appreciate it too!

[TheMarcusMarcs]

Man I do appreciate the sound as musical language but I'm also aware of what Fela stood for and I unfortunately don't have the linguistic knowledge to fully understand these songs. I'm constantly asking and infact I feel sorry for the Nigerians I meet cause I probably pester them too much about this! Of course they can't help me because the ones I meet are rarely Yoruba themselves. I appreciate any and all explanations as they do give me further insight into this amazing man and his music.

[TheMarcusMarcs]

As a guy that was born in Puerto Rico and was batized to music by what we call "Hard" salsa and who's a fan of Jazz and all kind of genre's around the world I have to agree with you. Something about Afro-Beat that just blows me away and has since the first time I heard it.

[ajonetto]

Well said, sir.

[Joseph Dooley]

I have never heard music like this in my 50+ years on this planet. The raw power, the relentless rhythm, the unique danceability to this is astounding, and utterly hypnotic. If this is voodoo music, well bring it on...

[P Man]

"Be water my friend" Bruce Lee

[Jcop42]

Well thanks Laura Marling.

[Douglas de Sena Simões]

Viva Fela!

[captainbuttsable]

adewaleaadesanya, oh you and your doings. HOW COME I LIKE YOU? LIKE TREES LIKE THE TREE.