As many who missed the six-day Felabration 2013 concerts are catching up on the happenings on the different media platforms, eyewitnesses to the thrilling performances at the New African Shrine are getting over the self-imposed insomnia of the longest running concert in Nigeria. Much had been said about the stunning performances put up by the lead performers of last Sunday’s concert, Femi Kuti and Kymani Marley. In the spirit of Sunday, fans have decided to forgive Femi and Kymani for not performing a duet. There is no excuse for not blending reggae and Afro-beat. It will not coagulate.
That said, Idris Abdulkareem still bore the hurt of being misunderstood with the “Jagajaga” track on stage but his audience eased his pain with their warm acceptance of his arrival on stage. Who would not like Abdulkareem’s swagger? His songs were the most echoed last Sunday. Now, Weird MC’s hype man, (or is it woman?) would have successfully stolen the show if the Weird One had not come mightily prepared herself. The energy and the fluidity of her movement on stage were simply amazing and definitely expected.
Chidimma could just have walked from a church service to the stage for all we cared. Her “brothers in the hood” raised the roof thus making it easy to forget that Chidimma left the bulk of her swag at home. Simplicity is not always a virtue on stage. Thanks to Phyno for his electrifying showmanship. Iyanya’s performance was just average. It could have been better if he remembered that we had seen his better performances on Youtube. Asides from inspecting the buttocks of dancing ladies, there should be some other stunt to evoke Fela spirit at Felabration concerts.
At least Burna Boy understood that when he got down to the “underpants” game. Sparkling white, we suspect he had it planned. Brave one it was and we hope he puts a danger sign on the underpants next time. That fire magician must have been there with Burna Boy on purpose. Maybe, if anyone had tried to touch those underpants, the offensive hands would have been burnt.
Thankfully, D’banj’s hype man, Special showed discretion by tinting his beard in different hues. One could have mistaken him for Rick Ross or even charge him for impersonation. But, the Eja Nla was kind enough to make some “aso-ebi” for Felabration in the form of towels. The Banger Lee’s sensational performance with a fan he “took as a wife” was reminiscent of what the Abami Eda himself did at Water Parks in a Concert tagged by the media as “The Son, The Sax and The Sex”. Who will blame Banger Lee for his raunchy performance and pornographic choreography? Perhaps, the other 27 wives that he did not take from the audience will. The strong warning for D’banj is that if you must imitate, imitate well.
Dr. Sid gave his charming smile to his audience in his characteristic manner. But he has an elder brother in stage charm. Kymani Marley dazzled the audience with smiles and rendered the songs of his father with the right emotions. The godfather of emotion and energy remains Femi Kuti. Whenever he grabs the saxophone, a certain spirit beyond rational projection envelopes him. He can stretch on and on as long as the breath takes him. His daily performances at the Felabration were celebrated by fans. In spite of his frequent appearances on stage, the members of the audience still let out screams. That is the true quality of a performer: always revered.
DJ Dr. Stan still owes the fans a lot of songs from his short-circuiting mixes. Just when the audience was getting into the flow, the songs disappeared. Omo Baba’s diplomatic jokes really deserved all the rounds of applause. JJC, accept our apologies for the low response from the fans. The fans didn’t agree that “Nigeria is the best place” but the performance and costume of the lead vocalist made up for the low points.
Our prayer is that at Felabration 2014, fans will welcome the fresh artistes with larger hearts. A few upcoming acts suffered a great deal of humiliation from the audience and some did deservedly. You have to strike a unique chord to be heard. That free-styling rapper earned his place on Wednesday due to his ingenuity and instantaneous display of intelligence with rhymes.
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