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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE KNITTING FACTORY RECORDS TO RELEASE Knitting Factory Records is very excited to announce the release of the third set of Fela reissues. This portion of the reissues series, entitled “Zombie” in celebration of Fela’s most well known song, spans the years 1976 – 1980. Containing 11 albums, this period of Fela’s storied career saw his Kalakuta Republic increasingly under siege from the Nigerian government, and the clear rise of his vitriol as it fermented into scathing musical diatribes. . Tracks such as “Authority Stealing” and the international hit “Zombie” are great examples of Fela’s unfiltered outpouring of raw anger towards the oppressive Nigerian government. Interestingly, the 1976 album Upside Down features the vocals of Sandra Isadore – the American woman who introduced Fela to the Black Power Movement. Music Of Many Colours is collaboration with American vibraphonist Roy Ayers. The titles that are being released are: “What’s fascinating about Fela’s music at this point is the dichotomy between the music and the message,” says Brian Long of Knitting Factory Records. “Out of context, these songs are incredibly upbeat and full of the hottest African funk, while in the context of Fela’s life, when you read the lyrics and know the story, they are full of frustration and a fiery anger that was meant to lift the people into protest.” Thirteen CDs and 23 albums have already been re-released this year through this landmark reissue series, and the reaction has been rapturous as Fela’s music continues to find new audiences every day. A large part of this palpable momentum is a result of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, FELA!, which is continuing it’s hit run at the Eugene O’Neill Theater, while looking to open in London’s West End in the fall. It is directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Bill T. Jones and produced by Shawn ‘Jay-Z” Carter and Will & Jada Pinkett Smith with music by the world-renowned Antibalas and other members of the NYC Afrobeat community, under the direction of Aaron Johnson. The next group of reissues will be released in the winter. For more information, please contact Big Hassle Media: Ken Weinstein and Myles Grosovsky 212-619-1360 or weinstein@bighassle.com or myles@bighassle.com
### KNITTING FACTORY RECORDS TO RELEASE UNIQUE PRE-SALE OFFERINGS VIA FELA.NET Knitting Factory Records is very excited to announce that the second set of Fela reissues will be released on May 11, 2010. Once again, as the reissues are being made available in mostly chronological order, these seven CDs that contain 14 albums total are mostly from the mid-70s and represent Fela and Africa ‘70 in their prime. Clearly his and the group’s most productive period (12 of the albums were released in 1975 and 1976 alone), it is during this point in his life that Fela’s social commentary began to reach a boiling point with songs such as “Icy Blindness” and “Expensive Shit.” However, in this collection of songs he also touched on more sensual subjects as in “Na Poi,” philosophy as in “Water No Get Enemy” and the shaking loose of the colonial mentality as in “Yellow Fever.” The titles that are being released are: Alagbon Close (1974)/Why Black Man Dey Suffer (1971) Right now Knitting Factory Records in association with Topspin is making this collection of CDs available for pre-sale in three different configurations: offering one is the digital download of all the titles; offering two is the digital download plus all the CDs; offering three is all of the above with the inclusion of a t-shirt. All of the titles have been re-mastered and re-released in unique digi-packs with the original artwork. “This second batch of reissues has some of the most powerful music of Fela’s career,” says Knitting Factory Records’ Brian Long. “When the world thinks of Fela, it is the music from this perfiod that generally gets discussed.” Again, the reissue series is well timed as it coincides with the critically acclaimed FELA!, the hit Broadway musical that has been celebrating Fela’s life and music nightly since it opened in November 2009. It was directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Bill T. Jones and produced by Shawn ‘Jay-Z” Carter and Will & Jada Pinkett Smith with music by the world-renowned Antibalas and other members of the NYC Afrobeat community, under the direction of Aaron Johnson. The next group of reissues will be released in the fall.
For more information, please contact Ken Weinstein at Big Hassle Media: For online-related requests, please contact Myles Grosovsky at Big Hassle Online Marketing: ### FELA! - ORIGINAL BROADWAY CAST RECORDING TO BE RELEASED JUNE 8TH AVAILABLE FOR PRE-RELEASE ORDER ON APRIL 20 Knitting Factory Records is excited to announce the June 8th release of Fela! - Original Broadway Cast Recording. This album documents the magic of the hit Broadway musical that Ben Brantley of the New York Times called "hot (and seriously cool)." He went on to say that "there has never been anything on Broadway like this production," and Elysa Gardner of USA Today called it "this decade's most exhilarating new Broadway musical." Fela! - Original Broadway Cast Recording features the incomparable Sahr Ngaujah as Fela singing with members of the irrepressibly funky Antibalas. A version featuring Kevin Mambo will be available for download and for sale at the theatre later this summer. Most of the Fela compositions performed on stage each night, leaving sold-out audiences astonished and breathless at the end of every show, are on this album as are several songs performed by Funmilayo (Fela's mother) as played by the Tony-award winning Lillias White, and Sandra Isadore (Fela's American girlfriend) as played by Saycon Sengbloh. This album was produced by the Grammy-nominated Robert Sher. "We worked incredibly hard, and have had amazing and talented people on board to create what we think is one of the hottest, sexiest, entertaining and unique Broadway experiences today," says the show's producer Stephen Hendel. "We're working equally hard to make sure that's captured in the cast record." Based on the life of groundbreaking African composer and performer Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, FELA! is the critically acclaimed Broadway musical that uses Fela's music to explore his life as an artist, political activist and revolutionary musician. Directed and choreographed by Tony® Award winner Bill T. Jones, with arrangements by Aaron Johnson and Jordan McLean, FELA! is a provocative hybrid of concert, dance and musical theatre. The cast recording captures the electricity and joy that thousands have experienced at the Eugene O'Neill Theater every night since the play opened on November 23, 2009. The record is a document of that experience, yet at the same time is a musical statement in its own right. Says Hendel, "There are three great bands in the world that can capture this music with the thrill and intensity of Fela Kuti himself: Femi and Seun Kuti, who live and play in Nigeria and tour around the world, and members of Antibalas, who are based in Brooklyn. We are privileged to have these members on our stage every night, bringing this music to a world that has, to a large extent, only recently understood what they've been missing." Tracklisting for Fela! - Original Broadway Cast Recording: Everything Scatter *lyrics by Jim Lewis For more information on the FELA! Original Broadway Cast Recording, please visit: For more information, please contact Ken Weinstein at Big Hassle Media: For online-related requests, please contact Myles Grosovsky at Big Hassle Online Marketing: ### PREVIOUS RELEASES |
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