Femi Kuti is the son of Fela Kuti, the originator of Afrobeat and former Public Enemy No1 in Nigeria.

Afrobeat, both hard driving and hard hitting, is still the order of the day at The Shrine, the nightclub in Lagos where Femi and his band, The Positive Force, play three times a week.



Trumpeter and saxophonist Femi made his debut as bandleader at the Hollywood Bowl in 1985, while his father was facing fraud charges. A year later he had split to make his own music with The Positive Force.



His 17-piece unit released two African albums, No Cause For Alarm? and MYOB, before being signed by Motown's world-music label, Tabu. The Positive Force play fast and as furious with music that digs deep into Nigerian traditions and fuses soul, funk and hip hop.



Femi's songs became anthems, though the Nigerian government made sure he was never played on radio, arguing that the lyrics to one song, Beng Beng Beng, were so lewd he was a danger to public morality.



Femi Kuti and The Positive Force are a return to the glory days of Nigeria's big bands, of wailing organs, frantic polyrhythms and behemoth horn sections playing against each other. Classic Afrobeat..



Book Now! The De La Warr Pavilion is the only venue he will be playing in the UK this year, aside from selected festivals.