Fela

What a way to start the New Year!  We loved the music, but would we see it again? The music had an African beat with a jazz influence. The dancing was wild and I was exhausted just watching.  The women were dressed in colorful tribal short skirts that portrayed the primitive culture, mixed with sexual sophistication.  The men were dressed in skin tight pants, no shirt and a jacket.  Exuding sexuality as they danced with a lot of pelvic jerks undulations.

The main character is named Fela, pronounced Feelah.  He is the owner and main star of a nightclub that features dancing and songs that protest the oppressive dictatorship of Nigeria.

Fela begins to sing and talk about his life, but first he gets the audience to stand up to learn how to dance.  We are instructed to jerk our hips in a clock direction. So for example, if he says 1 and 8, we jerk our hips at 1 o'clock and 8 o'clock direction.  It was fun and loosened us up.

Fela went to school abroad and was influenced politically when he moved to the US.  It was during the 1960's, time of protests, Black Power, and Malcolm X. He marries a Black woman who pushes him to move back to Nigeria to protest the oppressive regime. It is hard for him because he is arrested and tortured many times. He thinks about leaving, but he stays because of the memory of his mother. She was also a political figure and was killed when Fela's home was invaded and she was thrown from their upper balcony. Her ghost convinces him that he serves a higher purpose to benefit his people.

The singing and dancing was powerful, but at the same time I felt there was too much overt sexuality and anger in the dancing. One girl looked like she was dry humping as she squatted.  Being in the first row, I could tell she looked almost embarrassed as she did it. Maybe it was the look of some of the audience members in the front row. Also, one of the other girls had this contemptuous, angry look as she turned upstage. Was she portraying the attitude of the oppressed?  I don't know, but it was a turn off.

We thoroughly enjoyed the music and dancing, but it wasn't enough for us to want to see it again.