Femi Kuti and The Positive Force Launch US Tour, Jan 2013

On the heels of Femi Kuti's GRAMMY-nominated most recent album, Africa for Africa, U.S. audiences will have the opportunity to experience his unique artistry and world-renowned live performance when he and his big band, the Positive Force, tour the country in January 2013. The shows will feature music from Kuti's new studio album, No Place for My Dream, which will be released in 2013.

The central aim of No Place for My Dream is getting back to the essence of Afrobeat, the music pioneered by Femi's legendary father, Fela Kuti, in the late '60s. Since beginning his career as a teenager in his father's band, Femi has struck a delicate balance: carrying the torch, especially the activist dimension, of Afrobeat while developing his own sound. He has been equally committed to protecting, and going beyond, his father's legacy. He played a key role in celebrating the recent opening of the Kalakuta Museum, which honors his father and his music in Lagos, and was instrumental in bringing the hit Broadway show Fela! there.

Femi recorded No Place for My Dream at the Zarma studio in Paris with the producer Sodi, who produced several Fela albums and has been working with Femi since the latter's breakthrough, Shoki Shoki, in 1998. Femi just turned 50 in June 2012, and his maturity is audible in the new songs. He is reaching for a new level of musical excellence, and desires, perhaps more than ever, to be the voice of a deprived population. What propels the sound of No Place For My Dream is Femi's band, the tighter-than-ever Positive Force, which will join him on the tour.

Tour dates are as follows:

January 7
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Jam Cruise 11

January 13
Miami, FL
Grand Central

January 15
Boulder, CO
Boulder Theatre

January 17
Solana Beach, CA
Belly Up Tavern

January 18
Los Angeles, CA
El Rey Theatre

January 19
San Francisco, CA
The Fillmore

January 23
Boston, MA
Paradise Rock Club

January 24
Philadelphia, PA
World Cafe Live

January 25
Washington, D.C.
9:30 Club

January 26
New York, NY
Webster Hall

For more information about Kuti and to purchase tickets, visit www.femikuti.tv.