Midweek must-watch: Newen Afrobeat - 'Opposite People'

I think this is my most-watched music video on YouTube... here's why

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Three years ago, April 2021, my brother sent me this video on WhatsApp. The UK was still in some kind of lockdown, but the weather was perking up outside. Like most people, I was itching for brighter days, and craving live music.

Not quite knowing what to expect, I fired up YouTube on the TV. After watching it twice over, I realised I’d been sat there with a huge grin on my face throughout. I hope you’ll be able to relate!

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched it, and shared it, since.

I’m certainly not the only one - it’s racked up 14m views (since 2016). And if you skim through the comments, a good number or them are from people saying they watch it every day. Yep, it’s that good.

Perhaps it’s the irresistible, lock-tight Afrobeat groove, the visible joy and intensity on the faces of 21 musicians packed into a sweaty Chilean studio, the superb Tony Allen-esque drumming, the full-fat horn section, or Seun Kuti embodying the spirit of dad Fela when he finally starts singing, nine minutes in…

It’s all of that. But mainly, it’s just the sheer bloody infectiousness of it.

The original 1977 version of ‘Opposite People’ may be Fela Kuti’s rant at those folk who go against the flow:

Everyone dey dance, him go push
Everyone dey talk, him go shout
Everyone dey hear, him go sleep
Everyone dey think, him go drink

…but in calling out the contrarians in society, the track also succeeds in reminding us about what brings us all together as humans. And music has always been the perfect medium for that.

Apart from Seun Kuti and Malian musician Cheick Tidiane Seck on keys, the rest of the studio is filled with the female-led Chilean band, Newen Afrobeat, and a few members of Fela’s Egypt 80 crew. It’s a joyful, multi-generational, multi-national recording session that should be prescribed to start every day… who knows, the world might be a better place if it was.

I was lucky enough to catch Newen Afrobeat at London’s Jazz Cafe in 2022, and this track was one of those life-affirming moments of live music that’ll live with me for…. well, forever.

Finally pressed up!

My one sadness, given this is such a superb live recording, is that you can't get it on vinyl.

Or at least you couldn’t…

But in writing this, I’ve discovered that it was finally pressed up as a limited-run 12-inch last year (with another Fela track, ‘Upside Down’, on the other side). You can buy it on Bandcamp, as I’ve just done! [Mini fist-pump fully justified.]

Anyway, if you’ve never seen this video before, enjoy. And if you’ve had it on repeat already, kick back with today’s dose of your musical medicine.

Peace, love and music.

Rich