Jars of Clay

Redemption Songs (2005). He also expressed views that could be considered sexist. Who We Are Instead (2003). Though not part of African culture, it should be noted though that Fela was very liberal when it came to sex, as he potrayed in some of his songs, like Open and Close. Disc Two (From the Stage):. This may have contributed to his ultimate death of complications from AIDS. Disc One (From the Studio):. The African culture he believed in also included having many wives (polygamy) and the Kalakuta Republic was formed in part as a polygamist colony.

Furthermore: From the Studio, From the Stage (2003). He was also a social commentator, and criticized his fellow Africans (especially the upper class) for betraying traditional African culture. The Eleventh Hour (2002). He was a fierce supporter of human rights, and many of his songs are direct attacks against dictatorships, specifically the militaristic governments of Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s. If I Left the Zoo (1999). He was also a supporter of Pan-Africanism and socialism, and called for a united, democratic African republic. Much Afraid (1997). The American Black Power movement influenced Fela's political views.

Jars of Clay (1995). Fela was known for his showmanship, and his concerts were often quite outlandish and wild. They have six main albums released to date:. Fela refused to perform songs again after he had already recorded them, which also hindered his popularity outside Africa. Jars of Clay is: Dan Haseltine - vocals, percussion; Charlie Lowell - piano, organ, accordian, keys, background vocals; Stephen Mason - guitar, vocals, lap & pedal steel, national, mandolin, background vocals; Matthew Odmark - acoustic guitar, banjo, background vocals. Fela's main instruments were the saxophone and the keyboards but he also played the trumpet, horn, guitar and made the occasional drum solo. They are often known as the "fab four" of Christian music. His songs were mostly sung in Nigerian pidgin English, although he did also perform a few songs in the Yoruba language.

Jars of Clay is a four-member Christian rock band formed at Greenville College in Greenville, IL. This was one of many reasons that his music never reached a substantial degree of popularity outside of Africa. "They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love". Fela's songs were almost always over ten minutes in length, some reaching the twenty or even thirty minute marks. "Thou Lovely Source of True Delight". This is a common technique in African and African-influenced musical styles, and can be seen in funk and hip-hop. "On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand". The "endless groove" was also used, in which a base rhythm of drums, muted guitar, and bass guitar are repeated throughout the song.

"It Is Well with My Soul". Therefore it was characterized by having African style percussion, vocals, and musical structure, along with jazzy horn sections. "Jesus, I Lift My Eyes". The musical style performed by Fela Kuti was called Afrobeat, which was essentially a fusion of jazz and West African highlife. "Hiding Place". Later, it was revealed that he succumbed to AIDS-related heart failure. "O Come and Mourn with Me Awhile". It was announced that he died on August 2, 1997 in Lagos, Nigeria.

"Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder". This led to rumors that he was suffering from an illness that he was refusing treatment for. "Nothing But the Blood". His album output slowed in the 1990s, and eventually he stopped releasing albums altogether. "I'll Fly Away". Once again, Fela continued to release albums with Egypt 80, made a number of successful tours of the United States and Europe and also continued to be politically active. "God Will Lift Up Your Head". On Fela's release he divorced his twelve remaining wives.

"I Need Thee Every Hour". After twenty months, the regime changed once again and Fela was released from prison. "God Be Merciful to Me". In 1983 he again ran for President but was again attacked by police, who threw him in prison on a dubious charge of currency smuggling. "Shipwrecked" (special edition only). At this time, Fela created a new band called "Egypt 80" and continued to record albums and tour the country. "Tonight" (special edition only). In 1979 he put himself forward for President in Nigeria's first elections for more than a decade but his candidature was refused.

"My Heavenly". He formed his own political party, which he called "Movement of the People". "Sing". Despite the massive setbacks, Fela was determined to come back. "Jealous Kind". The second was at the Berlin Festival after which most of Fela's musicians deserted him, due to rumors that Fela was planning to use the entirety of the proceeds to fund his presidential campaign. "Jesus Blood Never Failed Me Yet" (Gavin Bryars cover). The year was also marked by two notorious concerts, the first in Accra in which riots broke out during the song Zombie which led to Fela being banned from entering Ghana.

"I'm In The Way". In 1978 Fela married twenty seven women, many of whom were his dancers and singers to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Kalakuta Republic. "Lesser Things". Fela and his band then took residence in Crossroads Hotel as the Shrine had been destroyed along with his commune. "Show You Love". Fela's response to the attack was to deliver his mother's coffin to an army barrack and write two songs, Coffin for Head of State and Unknown Soldier referencing the official inquiry which claimed the commune had been destroyed by an unknown soldier. "Faith Enough". Fela claimed that he would have been killed if it were not for the intervention of a commanding officer as he was being beaten.

"Trouble Is". The Kalakuta Republic was burned, and Fela's studio, instruments, and master tapes were destroyed. "Only Alive". Fela was severely beaten, and his elderly mother was thrown from a window, causing fatal injuries. "Lonely People" (America cover). In one raid, one thousand soldiers attacked the commune. "Amazing Grace". The record was a smash hit with the people and infuriated the government, setting off vicious attacks against the Kalakuta Republic.

"Sunny Days". In 1977 Fela and Africa 70 released the hit album Zombie, a scathing attack on Nigerian soldiers which used the "zombie" metaphor to describe the methods of the Nigerian military. "Worlds Apart". He then recounted this tale in his release Expensive Shit. "Flood". Fela enlisted the help of his prison mates and gave the police someone else's feces, and Fela was freed. "Revolution". In response, the police took him into custody and waited to examine his feces.

"I'm Alright". He became wise to this and swallowed the joint. "Fly". In 1974 the police arrived with a search warrant and a cannabis joint, which they had intended to plant on Fela. "This Road". However, it was also very unpopular with the ruling government, and raids on the Kalakuta Republic were frequent. "The Eleventh Hour". Fela's music became very popular among the Nigerian public.

"I Need You". The recordings continued, and the music became more politically motivated. "Crazy Times". Fela also changed his middle name to "Anikulapo" (meaning "he who carries death in his pouch"), stating that his original middle name of Ransome was a slave name. "Like a Child". Fela set up a nightclub in the Empire Hotel in which he performed in regularly first named the Afro-Spot and then the Shrine. "Disappear". He then formed the Kalakuta Republic, a commune, a recording studio and a home for many connected to the band which he later declared independent from the Nigerian state.

"Needful Hands". Fela and his band, renamed "Africa 70", then returned to Nigeria. "Frail". The band then performed a quick recording session in Los Angeles, which would later be released as "The '69 Los Angeles Sessions". "Love Song for a Savior". Soon, the Immigration and Naturalization Service were tipped off by a promoter that Fela and his band were in the US without work permits. "Redemption". While there, Fela discovered the black power movement through Sandra Isodere a friend of the Black Panther Party, which would heavily influence his music and political views and renamed the band "Nigeria 70".

"Dig". In 1963 Fela moved back to Nigeria, re-formed Koola Lobitos and trained as a radio producer for Nigerian Broadcasting. In 1969 Fela took the band to the United States. "The Eleventh Hour". In 1961 Fela married his first wife Remi with whom he would have three children (Femi, Yeni and Sola). "Liquid". The style was a fusion of American jazz with West African highlife. "The Valley Song (Sing of Your Mercy)". While there, he formed the band Koola Lobitos, playing a style of music Fela called Afrobeat.

"Something Beautiful". His parents sent him to London in 1958 with the intention of having him study medicine, but he decided to study music instead at the Trinity College of Music. "Overjoyed". His mother, Funmilayo, was a feminist active in the anti-colonial movement and his father Israel was the first president of the Nigerian Union Of Teachers. "The Edge of Water". Fela Kuti was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria to a middle-class family. "These Ordinary Days". Olufela Olusegen Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, October 15, 1938 - August 2, 1997), or simply "Fela", was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist and political maverick.

"The Eleventh Hour". Fela Anikulapo Kuti (b. "Whatever She Wants". Fela Live! Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and the Egypt 80 Band 1981, Recorded Live At Glastonbury, England. "Scarlet". Fela In Concert 1981. "Silence". Stephane tchal-Gadjieff & Jean Jacques Flori, Music Is The Weapon 1982, reissued in 2002 by Universal.

"I Need You". Tejumola Olaniyan, Arrest the Music! Fela and his rebel art and politics, Indiana University Press, 2004. "Fly". Various, Black President: The Art & Legacy of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, edited by Trevor Schoonmaker, 2003. "Revolution". Various, Fela: From West Africa to West Broadway, edited by Trevor Schoonmaker, 2003. "Something Beautiful". Sola Olorunyomi, Afrobeat: Fela and the Imagined Continent, Africa World Press, 2002.

"Disappear". Mabinuori Kayode Idowu, Fela, le combattant, Bordeaux (France), Le Castor Astral, 2002. "River Constantine". Veal, Fela: The Life of an African Musical Icon, Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 1997. "Can't Erase It". Michael E. "Grace".

"I'm Alright". "Hand". "Sad Clown". "Famous Last Words".

"No One Loves Me Like You". "Collide". "Unforgetful You". "Goodbye, Goodnight".

"Hymn". "Much Afraid". "Truce". "Portrait of an Apology".

"Weighed Down". "Five Candles (You Were There)". "Frail". "Crazy Times".

"Tea and Sympathy". "Fade to Grey". "Overjoyed". "Four Seven" (hidden track).

"Blind". "Worlds Apart". "Flood". "Boy on a String".

"He". "Art In Me". "Like a Child". "Love Song for a Savior".

"Sinking". "Liquid".