Keziah Jones, nigerian power

In Alive & Kicking, the internationally renowned king of blufunk revisits his rich body of work.

​​​​​​​He's just had an exhibition of his pen and ink drawings in a Parisian gallery, he's due to perform at the prestigious Seine Musicale in May, and he’s just released a new album... True to the multi-faceted personality of Keziah Jones, the album features some new songs (including the sentimental and subversive gospel track ‘Melissa’), covers (of Police and Rick James), but above all revisited hits, including the fabulous ‘Rhythm Is Love’. Recorded live at his home in Lagos, Alive & Kicking is intended to close a chapter before the release of another, more groundbreaking, album.

Keziah Jones, now 56, has never had time to grow bored. He was born in the homeland of his idol and ongoing source of inspiration, Fela Kuti, whom he met in the late 1990s for an unforgettable interview. Destined to follow in his father’s footsteps and become an engineer, he set off for London and a British education with Fela's 'No Agreement' in his suitcase. As a way of escaping his loneliness at school, he learnt to play the piano, then the guitar, which he ended up playing a few years later in the Paris underground. It was during this busking period that Philippe Cohen Solal, co-founder of the Gotan Project, spotted him and introduced him to the recording industry.  In 1992, his eponymous and aptly named album Blufunk is a Fact! set the tone for an international career. Now, in these reincarnations of tracks from Liquid Sunshine (1999), Black Orpheus (2003) and Captain Rugged (2013), his wide range of influences shines through, from highlife to folk, soul to psychedelic rock, blues to funk, as can be heard in the electrifying ‘Million Miles From Home’ which, twenty years after its original release, has lost none of its artistic and political resonance. The audience will undoubtedly hear it during his concert at the Seine Musicale, which will be supported by the Orchestre National d'Île-de-France conducted by Rémi Durupt, and whose arrangements will heighten the alchemy between the organic strings, the flamboyance of the brass and the undeniable percussive ease that the artist has demonstrated since his debut.