“Fires needed to be extinguished, all kinds of things would go on”: Rikki Stein on managing Fela Kuti

I can’t quite decide which is more believable, the plot for Forrest Gump or Rikki Stein’s autobiography. They both pack in more than seems reasonable for any one person to have experienced. Stein is best known as the manager of Fela Kuti and for popularising The Master Musicians of Joujouka outside of Morocco, but there are so many additional stories that beggar belief. Stein was at Woodstock (‘tripping like mad’), he took Jimi Hendrix on his first European tour, produced three number-one singles in France for Les Sunlights, convinced the Moody Blues to keep going after an early band split, toured Guinea’s hugely influential Les Ballets Africains around the world, and was a crucial member of the Glastonbury team that relaunched the festival in the 80s. But where did it all begin? Over a video call, I ask Stein to start at the beginning:

“When I was 16, going on 17, I opened a jazz club in Redbridge… I used to bring Roy East, Brian Brocklehurst, Bill Lesage, Tubby Hayes, Johnny Dankins, all those people. I paid all the musicians five quid, to come to Redbridge and play some jazz. That was the beginning.” From there, he started working with the infamous Radio Caroline before getting an offer to move to Belgium and manage tours there. He would bring over The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, The Yardbirds and many others. Stints at the Barclay record label in France and Vanguard Records in the US followed, along with many other adventures, such as Woodstock and creating an underground print magazine called the Atlantic Almanac, where Stein would write about mythical figures such as Pan. Later on, when visiting Morocco on the recommendation of a friend, that figure would come back into his periphery after a meeting on a Tangiers rooftop: “On the roof was a guy painting. He had eyes like burning coals. He looked at me and said, ‘Oh, where [have] you been? I wait [for] you [a] long time.’ And he ran downstairs and ran back up with this vinyl record and thrust it into my hands. It said Brian Jones Presents the Pipes of Pan at Joujouka. The sleeve notes were written by Brion Gysin. I’d written about the great god Pan and where he might have lived, and there I was, standing on this rooftop, reading this thing as if I’d written it. I looked at this guy, Mohammed Hamri, the painter. I said, ‘You know this place?’” – pointing to Joujouka on the cover – “He said, ‘yes.’ I said, ‘Can we go?’ He said, ‘Yes.’” Stein was instantly taken to Joujouka, where he was welcomed by tea, a sebsi pipe, flutes and drums, “and danced like I’d never danced in my life before.” He remained in Joujouka for a couple of years, later returning in 1979 to tour The Master Musicians of Joujouka around Europe for three months.

Stein became the co-manager of Fela Kuti in 1982 and retained the role until Fela died in 1997. Reflecting on what it was like managing Fela, he replies: “Fires needed to be extinguished, all kinds of things would go on, but then I would get them up on stage finally and forgive the motherfuckers for every shit they’ve done to me during the day because the music was wonderful. Honestly, I’m happy to have been able to earn a living from the job that I do. When you see an audience just loving every second of it, when you see them leave the building with a grin stuck on their face, that’s the protein that allows me to carry on.”

Since Fela’s death, Stein has managed Fela’s legacy, working on the Fela! Broadway musical, the Finding Fela documentary and various reissue campaigns. He has also worked with artists including Rachid Taha, Bobi Wine and many more in a story that feels far from over, Stein not yet ready to stay still.

+ Moving Music: The Memoirs of Rikki Stein is published by Wordville

This article originally appeared in the November 2024 issue of Songlines. Never miss an issue – subscribe today