In 2008, Femi Kuti did the unthinkable—made an album, Day By Day, that simultaneously carried out the musical legacy of his famous father Fela Kuti while establishing Femi as an artist of his own stripe. After years of aiming to raise the mainstream profile of Afro-beat—the blend of West African rhythms and African-American funk and jazz his late father pioneered—via hip-hop collaborations and alt-rock festivals, Femi seemed to have found his voice by mining Afro-beat the way his father did, like a man of his time. On his latest, Africa for Africa, Femi embodies his late father’s defiant attitude, offering up his more globally flavored Afrobeat sound while addressing the political and social problems of modern Africa. Like Day By Day, Africa for Africa swings from ecstasy to anger to bitterness to hopefulness—every bit of it burning with the funk. With The Positive Force, SunTzu Sound. BRIAN J. BARR

Sun., May 15, 8 p.m., 2011