May 13, 2019 - Femi Kuti, a Nigerian musician, the prince of "Afrobeat" and the worthy successor to his father, Fela Kuti, arrives in Tivat in September, where he will perform at the Tivat World Festival. The concert, which will open the third edition of the only world music festival in Montenegro on September 12th, will be the first performance of this great artist in our country.
The Tivat World Festival started three years ago in cooperation with the local tourist organization Dalibor Ševaljević, a Tivat musician and photographer. His main intention was presenting the local audience music based on the original musical expressions of different peoples and cultures, and Femi Kuti is so far the world's most significant name to be presented in Tivat.
"Femi Kuti is one of the globally most important names of world music. The Nigerian musician has the nickname "Prince of Afrobeat," because his father, legendary musician and activist Fela Kuti, still carries the title of the undisputed king of African music. This will be the first performance by Femi Kuti in Montenegro, and I can say that it will also be the biggest star of the world music that has ever performed in our country," says Dalibor Ševaljević, stressing that the entrance to this concert, as well as other contents at the Tivat World Festival, will be free.
Femi was born as Olufela Olufemi Anikulapo Kuti. He entered music at a very early age, but at 15, he joined a band. A few years later he founded his group "Positive Force," with whom he signed ten albums, four of which were nominated for the Emmy award.
Femi built his African-style music style mixed with African folk music, soul, and jazz, and like his father and grandmother, feminist and activist, Femi often talks about political and social issues.
The concept of the Tivat World Festival implies that local musicians, the most prominent names of the region, as well as the artists of the world's voice, will be presented within each edition. In addition to educating the audience on current world trends, this festival is also an opportunity to affirm the local musical heritage.
"The first edition of the festival was performed by the legendary Balkan Gypsy Orchestra. For this occasion, they prepared the Montenegrin folk song "Still Don't Like Sorrowful Dawn," which they later inserted into their usual repertoire and performed it all over the world. We can consider this to be a small contribution by the Tivat World Festival for Montenegrin Culture in general," says Ševaljević.
"When it comes to the quality of the festival, we have established frames, not giving up quality as the key benchmark in the selection of performers, which we will present to the audience in Tivat for each edition of the festival. Also, we will always try to offer something new and different from year to year to the audience," Ševaljević promises.
Femi Kuti won't be the only musician coming to Tivat from other continents. Ševaljević did not want to reveal more details about this segment of the program but announced that the regional star, Bilja Krstić with her orchestra would perform at Pine.
