Black President: the Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti - Book Review

Black Issues Book Review, Sept-Oct, 2003 by Suzanne Rust

by Fela Anikulapo-Kuti edited by Trevor Schoonmaker The New Museum for Contemporary Art August 2003, $30.00, ISBN 0-915-55787-8

Fans of the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the iconic Afro-beat musician and human rights activist, are in for a treat. Black President: The Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, artfully edited by Trevor Schoonmaker, is red-hot tribute to one of the music world's most dynamic and controversial personalities.

Simultaneously, The New Museum for Contemporary Art in New York City is hosting a multimedia exhibition of the same title featuring drawings, paintings, photography, sculpture, video, film and sound installations of over thirty artists, including Kara Walker, Sandford Biggers, Fred Wilson, Paul D. Miller (a.k.a. DJ Spooky), and a host of others.

The exhibit Black President runs in New York through September and then travels to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco (April 17-July 4, 2004) and to the Barbican Centre in London, England (September 9-October 24, 2004).