Fela Kuti's 'Zombie' Meets Flex Dance
January 21, 2015
Today we're excited to premiere Fela Flex, a film which aims to introduce a new audience to afrobeat founder Fela Kuti's music through the art of contemporary flex dancers. The video, shot by award-winning director Dominick Sheldon, pairs Fela's 1976 anti-military government song "Zombie" with the incredible bodily movement of Brooklyn-based dancers from the film Flex Is Kings, the 2013 documentary about the East New York street dancing style known as "flexing." The piece, a production by the New York City-based ROOT Studios, co-published by Okayafrica and NOWNESS, intends to shed a modern light on the vintage Nigerian horns and drums of afrobeat. Watch it below. Everybody say yeah yeah!