Groundbreaking musical Fela! made its homeland opening at the Eko Le Meridien Hotel on Victoria Island in Lagos debut during the recent Nigerian presidential elections. Telling thes tory of legendary Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, the production’s sound design is the work of Rob Kaplowitz, who sought to bring out the drama of afrobeat’s inception and the political struggles of its founder.
Following a critically acclaimed Broadway debut, a three-month in London was described by one critic as a ‘groundbreaking show that shook Broadway and London’s Royal National Theatre to the rafters’. To help director and choreographer Bill T Jones win this praise, Kaplowitz used a TiMax2 SoundHub matrix and TiMax Tracker performer tracking system to ‘create various zones in the house to localise the voices to their sources, while simultaneously allowing me to enfold the entire audience in the events onstage’.
Audience members and audio professionals alike appreciated the natural subtlety of the reinforced vocals and solo instruments which stayed glued to the performers as they crossed the stage from one side to the other, maintaining realism, intelligibility and dramatic impact.
Kaplowitz’s sound design associate Jessica Paz, already a veteran of the Broadway and London productions, accompanied the show to Lagos and combined a d&b speaker system with the TiMax SoundHub delay matrix again to help stitch together the production’s ambitious audio localisation objectives. As riots were breaking out in the north of the country and election fever was gripping the capital, Paz battled with the technical and logistical elements to keep her audio side of the bargain for this momentous homecoming.
A high spot arose away from the Eko Hotel’s auditorium when she got to mix a celebratory gig at Fela Kuti’s original New Africa Shrine nightclub, performed by Fela! actor Sahr Ngaujah, backed by the show’s outstanding afrobeat ensemble Antibalas, and where they were joined onstage by Femi Kuti, Fela's eldest son.
The aim of putting on Fela! in Lagos was to unite and connect Africans in spirit and unity, to serve as a catalyst for cultural revival in Nigeria, and to celebrate Fela Kuti for the contribution he made to Nigeria and the world. With the original Broadway producers including the likes of Jay-Z and Will Smith, this staging was produced in conjunction with the Lagos State Government and Nigerian production company, Broken Shackles, who rented the TiMax2 SoundHub matrix from UK developer Out Board.
A spokesperson for Broken Shackles best summed up the passion and significance of the final outcome: ‘Fela! in Lagos will be the most talked about show in Nigeria for years to come.’
More: www.outboard.co.uk
