FEMI KUTI & THE POSITIVE FORCE TO TOUR THE U.S.

FEMI KUTI & THE POSITIVE FORCE TO TOUR THE U.S.

 

Shows Will Preview Material From Forthcoming Album No Place For My Dream

 

On the heels of Femi Kuti’s GRAMMY-nominated most recent album, Africa for Africa, The Los Angeles Times said he “makes something more than music. His [albums] and hugely popular concerts (‘one of the more powerful live shows on Earth,’ according to The Onion) are imbued with the weight of family legacy and Kuti’s own individual intents. It is ‘music as message’ in a way few acts take on these days—protest and admonishment and hope all embedded in Afrobeat exuberance.” U.S. audiences will have the opportunity to experience Kuti’s unique artistry and world-renowned live performance when he and his big band, the Positive Force, tour the country in January 2013. Th e shows will feature music from Kuti’s new studio album, No Place for My Dream, which will be released in 2013 (label and date TBA).

The central aim of No Place for My Dream is getting back to the essence of Afrobeat, the music pioneered by Femi’s legendary father in the late ‘60s. Since beginning his career as a teenager in his father’s band, Femi has struck a delicate balance: carrying the torch, especially the activist dimension, of Afrobeat while developing his own sound. He has been equally committed to protecting, and going beyond, his father’s legacy. He played a key role in celebrating the recent opening of the Kalakuta Museum, which honors his father and his music in Lagos, and was instrumental in bringing the hit Broadway show Fela! there.

 

Femi recorded No Place for My Dream at the Zarma studio in Paris with the producer Sodi, who produced several Fela albums and has been working with Femi since the latter’s breakthrough, Shoki Shoki, in 1998. Femi just turned 50 in June 2012, and his maturity is audible in the new songs. He is reaching for a new level of musical excellence, and desires, perhaps more than ever, to be the voice of a deprived population. What propels the sound of No Place For My Dream is Femi’s band, the tighter-than-ever Positive Force, which will join him on the tour.

 

Femi Kuti & The Positive Force U.S. Tour Dates

 

January 7 

Ft. Lauderdale, FL 

Jam Cruise 11

 

January 13 

Miami, FL 

Grand Central

 

January 15 

Boulder, CO 

Boulder Theatre

 

January 17 

Solana Beach, CA 

Belly Up Tavern

 

January 18 

Los Angeles, CA 

El Rey Theatre

 

January 19 

San Francisco, CA 

The Fillmore

 

January 21 

Chicago, IL 

Metro

 

January 23 

Boston, MA 

Paradise Rock Club

 

January 24 

Philadelphia, PA

World Café Live

 

January 25 

Washington, D.C. 

9:30 Club

 

January 26 

New York, NY 

Webster Hall