Talking Fela Kuti with Sandra Izsadore

Lost Notes: Groupies

KCRW

Music History, Documentary, Society & Culture, Music

4.7 • 721 Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2024

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

KCRW’s relationship with Fela Kuti goes back to 1980, when KCRW’s Tom Schnabel and Roger Steffens were connected with the mighty Afrobeat innovator while he was still imprisoned in Nigeria. Six years later, once Fela was free and clear to tour internationally, he came to Los Angeles and visited KCRW in person, again with Tom Schnabel.

The connective tissue between these two events is Sandra Izsadore, who returned to KCRW for the first time in decades to talk with Lost Notes co-host Michael Barnes about meeting Fela in LA in 1969, and her essential role in the creation of the Afrobeat genre. It’s safe to say that without Sandra, there would have been no Fela as we came to know him soon thereafter. And that’s no exaggeration.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Michael. That sounds like a familiar tune.
0:10.1	Yeah, that was the first thing we played in our episode from Fella here on Lost Notes.
0:14.8	And it's been a very fellow cootie day here in the studio.
0:17.6	Did you know he did a phone interview with KCRW way back in 1980 when he was
0:21.7	still in prison? I actually did not know that. How did that come about? Well, this was back
0:26.8	when Tom Schnabel and Roger Stephens were on the air together. They used to play fellow
0:30.5	records all the time. And one day they got a call from Sandra Isidore. And you'll definitely
0:35.8	know Sandra if you listen to our episode on Fela from earlier in the season.
0:40.4	Mm-hmm.
0:41.3	You know, apparently Sandra heard them playing Fela so often that she called in and offered to hook them up with an interview.
0:48.1	And once Fella was free, come back to the United States, again in 1986, he actually came by KCRW and spoke to Tom Schnabel
0:56.3	in person and on the air. So it's perfect that Sandra Isidore has come back to KCRW after all these
1:03.1	years to talk with us about Fela. 100%. But if you're out there and you haven't heard our full
1:10.5	episode on Sandra and Fela and their chance meeting in Los Angeles in 1969, you should absolutely check that out before diving into our conversation today.
1:20.1	You'll appreciate hearing Sandra spin on the story even more once you actually have a big picture.
1:25.0	And you were flying solo for that interview, Michael. So I'm going to stick around and listen to this one myself.
1:30.7	This week on Lost Notes, we welcome Sandra Isidore to give us her perspective on the time when Falakuti came to L.A.
1:38.9	and invented the sound of Afrobeat.
1:52.2	Music the sound of Afro Beat. We're here in the studio with Sandra Isidore.
1:55.4	How are you doing, Sandra?
1:56.4	I'm fabulously well.
1:58.7	Thank you for asking.
	...

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