"Afro-Beat" is the equivalent of a Yoruba Opera. it is always political, poetic, truthful, ironic, iconoclastic, and deeply rooted in the culture and traditions of African Society, while at the same time, derivative of Colonialism and the pomp and pomposity of the Colonizers as exemplified in their dress, their military uniforms, and the way in which the Africans Supplanted and worshiped the colonizers through emulation.
Today's blog, is to guide you through the Yoruban Opera "Confusion Breaks Bones" by Fela Kuti
[my favorite parts and transitions in bold]
Starts out with Drums.
At 00:21 -Baseline, and rhythm guitar.
At 00:32 -Organ melody
At 1:07 -Horns (Fela's bands are famous for having not only 1, but 2 bass saxophones).
At 2:00 -Back to just drums, rhythm guitar and bas
At 2:11 -Organ comes back
At 2:42 -Horns start up again (they all phase in just as they had in the beginning).
The background, the environment of the song is being established. the other elements come in like seasons, times of the day, morning, noon, evening, moon phases, cycles of birth, death....
At 3:32 -First bridge of horns (this chorus isn't done again until the end)
At 4:00 -Singers come in with, the "residents" or "community" of the song singing, "confusion breaky-boney" chorus for first time.
The singing, the drums, the different rhythms, melodies... creating a beautiful melody and reconstruction of the aural "confusion" of the big city. The horns are reminiscent of both car horns, traffic, european marches (how apropos considering colonialism and the age of colonialism)
At 4:38, Fela does his first call and response, ordering in the drum solo. The drums are aggressive, but not as aggressive as later. in the beginning solo, the drums sound like work, struggle, as if soil is being toiled, buildings being hammered, music being played, or as if in lieu of a town square and bells for high noon, the drums are signaling to the community that all is well, life is proceeding as normal.
At 5:27 -The chorus "deady-body accident" traffic, disaster, violence, in response to protest, as a form of repression. "confusion breaky-boney" chorus.
At 6:20 -Saxophone solo. very beautiful and contemplative, like it's looking out over some beautiful African hill looking down on the beauty of Africa on one side, and confusion on the other. Part of the beauty of this solo is the calmness of it considering the theme of the song. The sax seems almost disconnected from the song in a vital way and this contrast brings an awareness of how life is "supposed to be" at it's finest. Perhaps a commentary on the goal of the modern government in terms of GNP vs. GNH (gross national happiness).
The sax solo turns into call and response with horns and sax solo, almost as if the "confusion" (horns) of the city is calling back to the prior life (sax solo) and is singing reminiscently of an idealized, surely romanticized history of African simplicity. Sax continues to 9:41
At 9:41 -Fela tells the chorus to say, "U-Low-Ya" when he says, "Ban-Bala". and when he says "Ban-Bala, they are supposed to say, "U-Low-Ya." And that's what they do. You gotta love the history and beauty of African call and response which is in virtually every form of African singing.
At 10:27 -Fela says, "the underground spiritual game" which is what he called his band and music. "Moo-Kele, Moo-Kele, Moo-Kele, Moo-Kele......"
At 10:47 -Fela says that he's been singing the song for a while and how the government began burning down his house.
Between 11:00-13:00 he begins talking about his country has become westernized and in love with money and all the wrong things he sees in Nigeria continuing with more call and response with his chorus.
At 12:55 -Call and response between fela and his horn section. talking about how traffic comes from all directions (East West North South) to a meeting place without any police to direct.
Between 13:50-15:20 -Fela begins talking about all of the things how the police burned all his stuff ( "police and army come burn my house" ) and how the police are supposed to help people, not burn their stuff around "'75 and '77". and how the government should be helping people.
beautiful call and response between fela and his horn section and his chorus. "everything that cost money they bon-bon dem"
MY FAVORITE PART! Between 16:02-17:07 -A beautiful chorus/bridge, with call and response with chorus.
"..... FELA: I Come Singy-Say Insulation
CHORUS: Na-Om Du-See Bega!
FELA: I Come Singy-Say Corruption
CHORUS: Na-Om Du-See Bega!
FELA: I Come Singy-Say Mismanagement
CHORUS: Na-Om Du-See Bega!
FELA: I Come Singy Say Stealing By Government
CHORUS: Na-Om Du-See Bega!
FELA: Na Old, Old, Old, Old News Beda-Too
CHORUS: Na-Om Du-See Bega!
FELA: De Problem Still De Ba-Bara-Ba
CHORUS: Na-Om Du-See Bega!
FELA: I Say De Problem Still De Ba-Bara-Ba
CHORUS: Na-Om Du-See Bega!...."
At 18:55 very passionate call and response with the chorus. Continuing with all kinds of funky bridges, Political lyrics, Horns, Choruses', drum solo's, etc.
At 21:43 -The main "confusion" singing/chorus/bridge. very beautiful.
CHORUS:
"...Deady-Body Get De Accident Yeah-Pa!
Deady-Body Get De Accident Yeah-Pa!
Confusion Breaky-Boney, Yeah-Pa!
Confusion Breaky-Boney, Yeah-Pa!..."
At 22:18 -Then Deady-Body Chorus repeated While Fela Enters into a grieving trance singing of passionate "Deady-Body" folks getting broken and killed by government. very passionate singing by Fela. "Deady-body yooooo!!!" and then the horns come in at 23:16 continuing until at 25:04 when Fela Cuts it off: ..."An-Lee! En-Chee! Eg-Ba! Eonree!!"
At 26:13 -Beautiful horn bridge. Once again, it's almost as if the horns are playing in such a way to harken back to British occupation, British Marches and colonialism, yet with an African twist... and this brings up one of the most beautiful aspects of African culture, which is the ability to be exposed to something "foreign" and through adaptation, elucidation and using that thing to voice the African voice, it's almost as if there is no ability to discern the foreigness of that thing. It has been wholly subsumed into that which is African. Be it American Jazz, Dance, Music, Organ, Fashion, Acting, Sports, the African has been able to subsume that thing into something that appears wholly African.
At 27:05 -Fela orders the last drum solo.
At 27:30 -Funky piano introduces the final chorus/horn brige of "confusion breaky-boney!" and "deady-body"
Seems to end at 28:33 -But then drum solo. now, instead of signaling a normal part of the day, the drumming is aggressive, as if gun shots and rifle shots. Anger, work, machinery, or a police force breaking down on the human body. call and response by fela and drums at 28:42. final horn blast at 29:00.
At the end, an entire village, a situation, an entire story has been told, musically to the point that you hardly realize you've been educated for the education has been so fully/beautifully incorporated into the song. It really shows a shared lineage with "rap" and other African-based creations such as Gospel, Blues, R&B, Pop, Jazz, etc and how the music, the drums the lyrics tell an entire story.
The Song is everything a song can be, and is supposed to be, but truly transcends "music" to become record, a testimony and fully complete piece of life and a celebration of life while also serving as a pointed critique of post-colonialism, fascist/democracies in the mold of colonialism. political oppression and the loss of the African self.
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