DX News Bits: “Fela!”, El Da Sensei, Black History 101 Mobile Museum

– FELA!, the critically acclaimed, award winning musical that celebrates and chronicles the life of Afrobeat pioneer and all around musical genius Fela Kuti, will go global on January 13^th.  That day’s performance of the show at The National Theater in London will be broadcast to theatres across the world, including screens in Kuti’s home nation of Nigeria. Fela! was partly produced by Hip Hop heavyweights Jay-Z, Will Smith, with his wife Jada, and ?uestlove.

– HiPNOTT records recently signed a deal to release an album of all new material from DJ Puerto Roc and and former Artifacts member El Da Sensei. All tracks on the record will feature the production work of Puerto Roc. No release date is currently set but HiPNOTT expects the disc to drop sometime in the first quarter. For a sneak peak of the music Puerto Roc and El Da Sensei have been working on head over to the label’s site.

– Next month will once again see the nation celebrating Black History Month. And in honor of that and to celebrate its own 20^th anniversary the Black History 101 Mobile Museum will be embarking on a 6 date, 13 stop tour of colleges throughout the country. The museum boasts over 3,000 artifacts including documents signed by Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Alex Haley, Booker T. Washington, and Minister Louis Farrakhan. Dates for the tour are below.

1/17 University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
1/19 University of Michigan (Dearborn)
2/2   Eastern Michigan University
2/4-5 Hip Hop Congress Summit (Ann Arbor)
2/7   Marietta College
2/11 Baldwin-Wallace College
2/17 East Tennessee State University
2/19 20th Anniversary Celebration at 5 E Gallery
2/21 Indiana University Purdue University-Indiana
2/23 Middle Tennesssee State University
2/25 Gonzaga University
4/19  Coastal Carolina University
4/21-26 University of Wisconsin (Madison)