I’ve been hearing nothing but rave reviews about this show since last year when it was in its pre-Broadway run. I finally got to see it last night on Broadway. (Bonus: we had discount tickets for being fans of the show on facebook.)

I knew it had to be fabulous. (With Fela’s music, it’d be really hard to screw it up.)

Fela Ransome Kuti, was a Nigerian musician and composer, who holds the accolades of being the father of Afrobeat music. His music is infectious (try sitting still), distinct, and political.

The only two things I wish: that it were longer, and that it was in a venue where we (the audience) could have gotten up to dance!

What I love about Fela on Broadway is that it illustrates the points that I try to make about the value of the arts:

It is one of the best lenses to view history. Music, fashion and visual art featured in the show took the audience right back to era in which Fela lived. And both he and his music are examples of how the arts serve as a means of nation building, as they were and are sources of both individual and societal Yoruba and Nigerian pride and self worth.