Keziah Jones

In 1996 it was Keziah Jones's turn to interview Fela Kuti, who was no longer speaking to western journalists. Keziah Jones thus presented himself at the Shrine under his real name, Olufemi Sanyaolu. The conversation drifted for a long time around names and their importance in Yoruba culture, with Fela Kuti even composing on the first name Olufemi (given to his own son) with a religious slant, using the word blasphemy (Blast-Femi). 

At the end of their meeting and before he left the Shrine, Olufemi Sanyaolu gave Fela Kuti a copy of his newly-released album, African Space Craft. Looking at the sleeve, Fela Kuti raised his eyes and asked: "Why did you change your name?"
We know little about the true names and identities of the African musicians who have been produced in the western world. We need to ask ourselves a pertinent question: if they had used their true names and identities, would they have succeeded in a genre other than the one created for them by the West, called world music?

For this symposium first mentioned in 1978 and realised today, Keziah Jones will question the live concert form and will transform it into a narrative object: the adventure of an African musician through various levels of exile.
Through the ritual use of rhythm, words and the power of sound he will attempt to reconcile these multiple identities in an exclusive concert.