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Background
 
Producer's note:

All of the pre-recorded music used in this documentary was by the late great Nigerian superstar Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Fela's style is known as "Afro-Beat." It combines Nigerian "High-Life" pop with big band horns, a "James Brown-style" rhythm section with traditional percussion, and call-and-response vocals with some of the heaviest lyrics on topical matters you'll ever hear. Fela played tenor sax, keyboards and percussion, and sang in "pidgin English" in order to be understood all over Nigeria and beyond. While I think his work from the mid- and late- '70's is the most compelling, I believe that there is no more important African popular musician.
 


"He Miss Road"; Fela with Ginger Baker, from Cream and Blind Faith on drums.

Two songs from an unidentified group commissioned by MSF to air on local AM stations in the Niger river delta where the organization is operating, sort of like Public Service Announcements. Recorded on location by Michael Goldfarb--no further info available.

Other music from the documentary:

"Coffin For Head Of State" by Fela.

"Water No Get Enemy" by Fela.

The documentary ends with a special edit of "Coffin For Head Of State." With the limited time I had available I wanted to highlight this amazing testament of Fela - a true story.

Inside Out theme music is taken from "Rebel Warrior" by Asian Dub Foundation, a Pakistani/British hip-hop outfit from London.

-George B. Hicks
technical director/line producer