The track listing for the next Red Hot album, Red Hot + Riot!, has been finalized and the album, featuring D'Angelo, Macy Gray and others, will be released on October 16th. Following Red Hot + Blue (a tribute to Cole Porter), Red Hot + Rhapsody (a tribute to George Gershwin) and other Red Hot collections, Red Hot + Riot! will feature artists interpreting the songs of the late Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

The tribute caps a busy two-year period in which MCA has reissued more than twenty CDs, each containing a pair of Kuti's original recordings. As with Kuti's own body of work (which spanned more than eighty recordings), Red Hot + Riot! will be a diverse sounding affair, with a number of cross-genre collaborations. "Water No Get Enemy," originally recorded by Kuti on 1975's Expensive Shit, is tackled by D'Angelo along with Gray, the Soultronics (Nile Rodgers and Roy Hargrove) and Kuti's son Femi Kuti. "No Agreement" (from 1977's No Agreement) is covered by R&B newcomer Res along with former Kuti collaborator Tony Allen, world beat keyboardist Ray Lema, avant jazz saxophonist Archie Shepp, Senegalese singer-guitarist Baaba Maal and rap ensemble Positive Black Force. Dead Prez, Me'shell Ndegeocello, Kelis, Talib Kweli and Bilal are among the other contributors on the album.

As with the twelve previous Red Hot collections, Red Hot + Riot! will raise money for AIDS research and education, to fight the epidemic in Africa. In addition to his prolific recording career, the Nigerian born Kuti was a prominent activist who fought socially as well as physically against a corrupt political infrastructure in Nigeria. He died in 1997 of complications from AIDS; he was fifty-eight.

In related news, Femi Kuti and his band, Positive Force, will begin an eighteen-date North American tour on July 5th at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans.

Red Hot + Riot! track listing:

"Kalakuta Show," Gab and Lateef of Blackalicious
"Shuffering and Shmiling (Intro)," The Remedies
"Shuffering and Shmiling," Dead Prez, Talib Kweli, Jorge Ben and Bilal
"Gimme Shit (Interlude)," Mixmaster Mike
"Water No Get Enemy (Intro)"
"Water No Get Enemy," D'Angelo, Femi Kuti, Macy Gray and the Soultronics, Featuring Nile Rodgers and Roy Hargrove
"Gentleman," MeShell Ndegeocello and Yerba Buena Featuring Ron Blake
"Years of Tears and Sorrow," Common and Djelimady Tounkara
"Shakara/Lady (Part 1)," Cheikh Lo
"Shakara/Lady (Part 2)," Cheikh Lo, Les Nubians and Manu Dibango
"Zombie (Part 1)," Bugz in the Attic Featuring Wummi
"Zombie (Part 2 -- Instrumental)," Nile Rodgers and Roy Hargrove
"No Agreement," Res, Tony Allen, Ray Lema, Baaba Maal, Positive Black Soul and Archie Shepp
"So Be It," Kelis
"Colonial Mentality (Interlude)," Yerba Buena
"Trouble Sleep," Baaba Maal, Taj Mahal Featuring Kaouding Cissoko

Femi Kuti and Positive Force tour dates:

7/5: New Orleans, Essence Music Festival
7/6: Chicago, the Metro
7/7: Milwaukee, Summerfest
7/10: St. Ambroise, Quebec, St. Ambroise Jazz Festival
7/11: Toronto, Harbourfront Center
7/12: Montreal, Festival International Nuits d'Afrique
7/13: Brooklyn, NY, Prospect Park
7/14: New York, Club Shelter
7/15: Albany, NY Washington Park
7/16: Darien Center, NY, Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
7/17: Washington, DC, 9:30 Club
7/19: Detroit, Chene Park
7/21: Apple Valley, MN, Music in the Zoo
7/23: Salt Lake City, University of Utah
7/25: Portland, OR, Oregon Zoo Amphitheater
7/26: Medford, OR, Britt Festival
7/27: San Francisco, The Fillmore
7/28: Los Angeles, Hollywood Bowl

ANDREW DANSBY
(June 25, 2002)