Pax Nicholas of Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 returns with ‘Mind Your Business’

The track was released digitally and as a 12-inch vinyl EP on 18 September through Paris-based Afrobeat label Comet Records. The release also features a remix by French producer and DJ Gabriel Belabbas, co-founder of Parisian label Positive Future.

‘Mind Your Business’ combines brass arrangements, layered percussion and guitar riffs rooted in Afrobeat and Afro-funk. Belabbas’ remix takes a more minimal approach, reducing the arrangement to its rhythmic foundations while retaining elements of the original brass and percussion.

Born Nicholas Addo-Nettey in Accra, Ghana, Pax Nicholas joined Fela Kuti’s Africa 70 as a conga player and backing vocalist in 1971. He subsequently appeared on several of the group’s influential recordings, including Lady and Shakara.

His time with Africa 70 coincided with a turbulent period in Nigeria. Nicholas experienced raids on Fela Kuti’s Kalakuta Republic and spent nine months in prison during Nigeria’s military dictatorship. His experiences formed part of the wider political and social context surrounding Fela’s music and Afrobeat's development as a form of cultural and political expression.

Nicholas left Africa 70 in 1978 following the Berlin Jazz Festival, at around the same time as drummer Tony Allen. He remained in Germany, where he established another phase of his career, including leading the 12-piece Afrobeat ensemble Ridimtaksi.

He later collaborated with Finnish musician Jimi Tenor and reunited with former Africa 70 colleagues and members of the African diaspora in Berlin. In 2012, he appeared alongside Tony Allen and Africa 70 guitarist Oghene Kologbo on Ghanaian musician Ebo Taylor’s album Appia Kwa Bridge, released by Strut Records.

Nicholas’ earlier work also received renewed international attention when Daptone Records reissued his 1973 album Na Teef Know De Road of Teef in 2009.

With ‘Mind Your Business’, Nicholas continues to draw on the Afrobeat sound that shaped his early career while working with a new generation of producers and DJs. The release is classified within the Afrobeat and Afro-funk genres.