Arrive Magazine - September/October, 2010

REVUE
AND BEYOND

now a concert,” says Sahr Ngaujah, who alter- nates playing the lead role with Kevin Mambo. “And we want you to respond to us.” After Kuti tells you to dance—and teaches you how—there’s a di;erent feel in the room. ;at room does become the Shrine, and audi- ence members are not shy about interacting with the actors. “It’s also about creating a code that the audi- ence can understand,” says Ngaujah. “Some- where inside of people there are learned signals that people know what to do and when to do it— like social codes.” Some people in the audience are better used to the social codes that would have been accept- able at a concert in the Shrine. “;ey fall into the pattern a lot faster than the theater people,” says Ngaujah. “And the audience starts to learn from each other.” Fela! is a lot about learning, and Ngaujah and Mambo are the teachers. (;ey’re also the lead actor, the conductor and the lead danc- er, just as Kuti himself was at his Shrine.) You learn about Kuti’s life, from his childhood (his mother was an activist in the anticolonial move- ment and his father was a Protestant minister) to young adulthood (he studied music in London and learned about the Black Power movement in Los Angeles) to his career in music (his style volved, as did his message), his love of women (he once married 27 women in one fell swoop) and his political activism (he was jailed; he had a commune; he ran for president). But at Fela!, learning about Kuti is not any sort of a chore. You’re enchanted with the music, with the costumes and the dancing. Especially the dancing. ;e actors’ movements, of course. But your own, too.