FELA-PHENOMENON AND LEGACY

As popular as Fela's music had become in Nigeria and elsewhere, it was also very unpopular with the ruling government, and raids on the Kalakuta Republic were frequent. In , Fela and the Afrika '70 released the album Zombie , a scathing attack on Nigerian soldiers using the zombie metaphor to describe the methods of the Nigerian military. The album was a smash hit and infuriated the government, setting off a vicious attack against the Kalakuta Republic, during which one thousand soldiers attacked the commune.

Fela was severely beaten, and his elderly mother whose house was located opposite the commune [6] was thrown from a window, causing fatal injuries. The Kalakuta Republic was burned, and Fela's studio, instruments, and master tapes were destroyed. Fela claimed that he would have been killed had it not been for the intervention of a commanding officer as he was being beaten.

Fela's response to the attack was to deliver his mother's coffin to the Dodan Barracks in Lagos , General Olusegun Obasanjo 's residence, and to write two songs, "Coffin for Head of State" and "Unknown Soldier", referencing the official inquiry that claimed the commune had been destroyed by an unknown soldier.

Fela and his band took residence in Crossroads Hotel, as the Shrine had been destroyed along with his commune. In , Fela married 27 women, many of whom were his dancers, composers, and singers. The marriage served not only to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Kalakuta Republic but also to protect Fela, and his wives, from false claims from authorities that Fela was kidnapping the women. Later, he was to adopt a rotation system of keeping 12 simultaneous wives.

The second was at the Berlin Jazz Festival after which most of Fela's musicians deserted him, due to rumours that Fela was planning to use the entire proceeds to fund his presidential campaign. Despite the massive setbacks, Fela was determined to come back. He formed his own political party, which he called Movement of the People MOP , in order to "clean up society like a mop". At this time, Fela created a new band called Egypt '80 reflecting the fact that Egyptian civilization, knowledge, philosophy, mathematics, and religious systems are African and must be claimed as such.

As Fela states in an interview, "Stressing the point that I have to make Africans aware of the fact that Egyptian civilization belongs to the African. So that was the reason why I changed the name of my band to Egypt He further infuriated the political establishment by dropping the names of ITT Corporation vice-president Moshood Abiola and then General Olusegun Obasanjo at the end of a hot-selling minute political screed entitled "I. In , Muhammadu Buhari 's government, of which Kuti was a vocal opponent, jailed him on a charge of currency smuggling which Amnesty International and others denounced as politically motivated.

After 20 months, he was released from prison by General Ibrahim Babangida. On his release he divorced his 12 remaining wives, saying that "marriage brings jealousy and selfishness".

Once again, Fela continued to release albums with Egypt '80, made a number of successful tours of the United States and Europe and also continued to be politically active. Fela's album output slowed in the s, and eventually he stopped releasing albums altogether. In , he and four members of the Afrika '70 organization were arrested for murder.

The battle against military corruption in Nigeria was taking its toll, especially during the rise of Sani Abacha. Rumours were also spreading that he was suffering from an illness for which he was refusing treatment. However, there are no known photos of Kuti with telltale lesions; moreover, Kuti was honored with a lying-in-state in which his remains were encased in a five-sided glass coffin for full public viewing. The New Afrika Shrine has opened since Fela's death in a different section of Lagos under the supervision of his son Femi.

Afrobeat also borrows heavily from the native "tinker pan". Fela once stated that "without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat". Afrobeat is characterized by a fairly large band with many instruments, vocals and a musical structure featuring jazzy, funky horn sections. A riff-based "endless groove" is used, in which a base rhythm of drums, shekere , muted West African-style guitar and melodic bass guitar riffs are repeated throughout the song.

Commonly, interlocking melodic riffs and rhythms are introduced one by one, building the groove bit-by-bit and layer-by-layer. The horn section then becomes prominent, introducing other riffs and main melodic themes. Fela's band was notable for featuring two baritone saxophones , whereas most groups were using only one of this instrument. This is a common technique in African and African-influenced musical styles and can be seen in funk and hip hop. Fela's bands at times even performed with two bassists at the same time both playing interlocking melodies and rhythms.

There were always two or more guitarists. Some elements often present in Fela's music are the call-and-response within the chorus and figurative but simple lyrics. Fela's songs were also very long, at least 10—15 minutes in length, and many reached 20 or even 30 minutes, while some unreleased tracks would last up to 45 minutes when performed live.

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This was one of many reasons that his music never reached a substantial degree of popularity outside Africa. His LP records frequently had one minute track per side. Typically there is an " Instrumental Introduction " jam part of the song, perhaps 10—15 minutes long, before Fela starts singing the "main" part of the song, featuring his lyrics and singing, in which the song continues for another 10—15 minutes. Therefore, on some recordings one may see his songs divided into two parts, Part 1 instrumental followed by the rest, Part 2.

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His songs were mostly sung in Nigerian pidgin English, although he also performed a few songs in the Yoruba language. Fela's main instruments were the saxophone and the keyboards , but he also played the trumpet, electric guitar, and took the occasional drum solo. Fela refused to perform songs again after he had already recorded them, which also hindered his popularity outside Africa. Fela was known for his showmanship, and his concerts were often quite outlandish and wild. He referred to his stage act as the "Underground" Spiritual Game.

Fela attempted making a movie but lost all the materials to the fire that was set to his house by the military government in power. Kuti thought that art, and thus his own music, should have political meaning. As Fela's musical career developed, so too did his political influence throughout the world. In turn, the religious aspect of his musical approach grew. Fela was a part of an Afro-Centric consciousness movement that was founded on and delivered through his music.

If you're playing music and people don't feel something, you're not doing shit. That's what African music is about.

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When you hear something, you must move. I want to move people to dance, but also to think. Music wants to dictate a better life, against a bad life. When you're listening to something that depicts having a better life, and you're not having a better life, it must have an effect on you.

Fela's music and strong sense of sharing humanist and activist ideas grew from the environment he was in. You can sing about love, you can sing about whom you are going to bed with next. But in my own environment, my society is underdeveloped because of an alien system on our people. So there is no music enjoyment. There is nothing like love. There is something like struggle for people's existence. Fela Kuti was a political giant in Africa from the 70s until his death.

Kuti criticized the corruption of Nigerian government officials and the mistreatment of Nigerian citizens. He spoke of colonialism as the root of the socio-economic and political problems that plagued the African people. Corruption was one of the worst, if not the worst, political problem facing Africa in the 70s and Nigeria was among the most corrupt countries of the time. The Nigerian government was responsible for election rigging and coups that ultimately worsened poverty, economic inequality, unemployment, and political instability, which further promoted corruption and thuggery.

Fela's protest songs covered themes inspired by the realities of corruption and socio-economic inequality in Africa. Fela Kuti's political statements could be heard throughout Africa Continent. Kuti's open vocalization of the violent and oppressive regime controlling Nigeria did not come without consequence. He was arrested on over different occasions, including his longest stint of 20 months after his arrest in On top of the jail time, the corrupt government would send soldiers to beat Kuti, his family and friends, and destroy wherever he lived and whatever instruments or recordings he had.

In the s, Kuti began to run outspoken political columns in the advertising space of daily and weekly newspapers such as The Daily Times and The Punch , bypassing editorial censorship in Nigeria's predominantly state controlled media. Organized around a militantly Afrocentric rendering of history and the essence of black beauty, "Chief Priest Say" focused on the role of cultural hegemony in the continuing subjugation of Africans.

Mabinuori Kayode Idowu (Author of Fela le combattant)

Kuti addressed a number of topics, from explosive denunciations of the Nigerian Government's criminal behaviour; Islam and Christianity's exploitative nature, and evil multinational corporations; to deconstructions of Western medicine, Black Muslims , sex, pollution, and poverty. Kuti was outspoken; his songs spoke his inner thoughts. His rise in popularity throughout the s signaled a change in the relation between music as an art form and Nigerian socio-political discourse. Kuti strongly believed in Africa and always preached peace among Africans.

He thought the most important way for Africans to fight European cultural imperialism was to support traditional African religions and lifestyles. He was also a social commentator, and he criticized his fellow Africans especially the upper class for betraying traditional African culture. The African culture he believed in also included men having many wives polygamy.

The Kalakuta Republic was formed in part as a polygamist colony. In defense of polygyny he said: Like in Europe, when a man is married, when the wife is sleeping, he goes out and fucks around. He should bring the women in the house, man, to live with him, and stop running around the streets!

Fela Kuti was also an outspoken critic of the United States. Just as the Shrine embodies more than is readily obvious, Fela represented more than was plainly evident. He was more than just a dissolute, marijuana-smoking, eccentric consort of twenty eight wives. He was a trailblazing musician: With the exceeding excellence of his music and the stunning splendor of his stage work, he took music and entertainment in Nigeria to new heights.

He was also a brilliant, well-read social crusader. He had the learning and versatility of a professor, oratorical flourishes of a preacher, and the deep insight of a philosopher. The visit also taught us that truly great men are neither stuck-up nor puffed-up. And, as such, the snobbery of the Nigerian political elite and the distance they deliberately maintain between themselves and the masses are the stuff for petty minds and panjandrums.

Nigerians were pleasantly surprised by the humility and accessibility of the French president. In shirt sleeves, he mingled with the people; talking to ordinary Nigerians and shaking hands with them. It would have been unimaginable for the president of Nigeria to freely socialize with ordinary Nigerians as the French president did.

Unlike the Nigerian president, he was not shielded from the people by a phalanx of security men. The Nigerian political elites are so conceited, and scornful of the people they supposedly serve.

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Therefore, they insist on copious buffers, between them and the masses, maintained by hard-eyed, stoned-faced and vicious-looking security men brandishing automatic rifles, and ready to punch and kick to pulp any one that breached security protocol. Nigerian presidents, governors, and legislators behave as though they represent an occupying power, and are therefore not only afraid of the citizens of the occupied country but also need to intimidate and repress them.

It endeared him to many in Nigeria, Africa and beyond but also brought him the cudgel of different Nigerian governments. His persecution by different Nigerian governments culminated to the burning of his house and the killing of his mother by soldiers, and a judicial burlesque that sentenced him to four years imprisonment. Still, he did not flinch; he remained resolute in his stance against social injustice and the excesses of power.

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Many years after his death, his message remains uncannily, some say prophetically relevant to the Nigerian reality. He advanced the ideals of freedom, social justice and good governance with the power of music. His musical genre, Afro Beat, was a fusion of traditional Nigerian percussions, well-defined lead guitar of Highlife music and pronounced baseline of Rhythm and Blues, interlaced with delicately beautiful arrangement of horns saxophone, trumpet and trombone and exquisite piano play of Afro-American Jazz.

In the late s and early s, Nigerian popular music was under the powerful influence of Western, especially, American music. Unlike the velvety singing of Highlife, and feigned American accent vocals of Nigerian Pop musicians, the vocalism of Afro Beat was loud and coarse. In its further deviation from orthodoxy, the lyrics of Afro Beat did not praise and ingra tiate the rich and mouth romantic platitudes.

It was fashioned as a tool for mass enlightenment, crusading against social injustices and denouncing abuse of power. With his poignant and defiant lyrics, Fela brayed against social injustice, official corruption, mass poverty, police brutality, gutlessness of Nigerians, etc.