Upside Down (1976) / Music of Many Colors (1980)

CD INCLUDES:

Upside Down
Fela went through some profound musical and political changes during Koola Lobitos / Nigeria 70’s 1969 - 1970 US tour. Politically, the most far-reaching of these followed his befriending of Sandra Izsadore, a black-rights activist who introduced him to the writings of Malcolm X, Angela Davis, Rap Brown, Stokely Carmichael, Huey Newton, Frantz Fanon and other revolutionary thinkers. Fela often credited Izsadore with helping inspire his philosophy of Blackism. Izsadore also affirmed Fela's use of weed. Fela had occasionally smoked in London while he was there studying at Trinity College, but with Izsadore in 1969 he began to use weed daily, continuing to do so until the end of his life. In 1970, Izsadore stayed with Fela in Nigeria for six months, and returned for a shorter visit in 1976, when she sang on the title track of Upside Down, which describes Nigeria’s shambolic, corruption-riddled governance and infrastructure. Originally released by Decca Afrodisia.

Music of Many Colors
In early 1980, Roy Ayers and his band toured Nigeria as the opening act for Fela and Egypt 80. Fela and Ayers became friends and the two outfits got together for this album, an elegant amalgam of Afrobeat and jazz-funk. Ayers’ band included the influential hard-bop and spiritual-jazz US tenor saxophonist Harold Land (wrongly credited as keyboard player on the original sleeve). On the jazz-funk infused “2000 Blacks Got Be Free,” Ayers testifies that by the new millennium Africa would, or at least should, be liberated from all vestiges of colonial influence. “Africa Centre Of The World” was a more collaborative track in the Afrobeat groove, prominently spotlighting Ayers’ soulful vibraphone. Originally released by Phonodisk.