BIOGRAPHY OF FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI
Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria in 1938. His family belonged to the
Egba branch of the Yoruba tribe. His father, Reverend I.O. “Daudu” Ransome-Kuti, was a
minister of the Protestant church and head of the local grammar school. His mother,
Funmilayo “Bere” Ransome-Kuti, was a teacher who later became a politician of some
considerable influence, particularly active in women‘s rights and anti-colonial campaigns. As
a teenager, Fela would run for miles to attend traditional celebrations in the area, already
understanding that the authentic African culture of his ancestors ought to be preserved.
Fela’s parents sent him to London in 1958, but rather than studying medicine, like his two
brothers and his sister, Fela, to his parents’ initial dismay, registered at the Trinity School of
Music, where he was to spend the next five years. In London, he married Remi, born in 1941
in England to a Nigerian father and a part African American, part British mother. The couple
had three children, Yeni, Femi and Sola. In his spare time, Fela played in a highlife band with
other Nigerian expatriates. Among its members was Jimo Kombi "J. K." Braimah, who had
previously influenced Fela by introducing him to African music circles in Lagos, at a time
when western music predominated there.
Fela returned to the Nigerian capital in 1963, three years after independence. Soon
afterwards, he was leading a highlife and jazz band, Koola Lobitos, whose lineup included
the drummer Tony Allen, a key member of his bands until 1978. In 1969, during the civil war
with the south eastern Nigerian province of Biafra, Fela took Koola Lobitos to the United
States. Towards the end of a ten month tour, he changed the name of the group to Fela
Ransome Kuti & Nigeria 70.
In America, Fela met an African American woman, Sandra Izsadore, a political activist and
close friend of some prominent members of the Black Panthers, who was to be a big
influence on his thinking. She introduced Fela to the writings of Malcolm X, Eldridge
Cleaver and other black radicals, through which he became aware of the link existing
between black peoples all over the world. With this insight, Fela also gained a clearer
understanding of his mother’s fight for the rights of Africans under colonial rule in Nigeria,
together with her support of the Pan Africanist doctrine expounded by Kwame Nkrumah, the
Ghanaian head of state, who had negotiated independence for his country with the British.
Before returning to Nigeria, Fela also found the inspiration needed to create his own unique
style of music, which he named Afrobeat. The band scraped together the money to record
some of the new material in Los Angeles. Back home, Fela once again changed the name of
the group, this time to Fela Ransome-Kuti & Africa 70, and the L.A. recordings were
released as a series of singles.
Afrobeat was a great success in Lagos and Fela was able to open a club in the Empire Hotel,
which he called the Afro-Shrine. At that time, he was playing trumpet, switching later to
saxophones and keyboards. He started singing mostly in Broken English rather than in
Yoruba, so as to be understood all over Nigeria and in neighbouring Anglophone countries.
In his songs, he depicted everyday social situations with which a large part of the African
population was able to identify.
Young people from all over Nigeria flocked to hear Fela’s music, which developed themes
relating to Blackism and Africanism, and encouraged a return to traditional African religions.
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Later he was to become outspoken in his criticism of those in power, bravely condemning
military and civilian Nigerian regimes for their mismanagement, incompetence, theft,
corruption and marginalisation of the underprivileged.
In 1974, pursuing his dream of an alternative society, Fela built a fence around his house and
declared it to be an independent state: Kalakuta Republic. To the dismay of bourgeois
Nigerian society, this spirit of defiance was soon to spread throughout the neighbourhood, as
more and more people were inspired by Fela’s stance. The authorities remained vigilant,
fearing the potential power of Fela’s state within a state. Until the end of his life, on
uncounted dozens of occasions, Fela was to suffer the consequences of his scathing
denunciations with arrests, jailings and beatings at the hands of the authorities.
But with each incarceration or violent confrontation with the powers that be, Fela became
more outspoken, symbolically changing his middle name from Ransome to Anikulapo - “he
who carries death in his pouch, he who has control over death.” His fame spread and his
records began to sell in millions. The population of Kalakuta grew amid mounting criticism
from the authorities, who professed to be concerned about the young people, many still in
their teens, who left their families to live there.
During the Festival for Black Arts and Culture (FESTAC) held in Lagos in early 1977, Fela
sang “Zombie,” a coruscating satire of the army, which was to become enormously popular
throughout Africa, bringing down the fury of the Nigerian military machine on him and his
followers. As Fela relates in another song, “Unknown Soldier,” shortly after the end of
Festac, in February 1977, a thousand soldiers attacked Kalakuta, burning down his house and
beating and raping many of its occupants. During the attack, Fela’s mother, then aged 77, was
thrown from a first floor window, fracturing a leg and suffering severe trauma. She died the
following year as a direct result of the outrage.
Homeless and without a Shrine, which had also been destroyed in the February attack, Fela
and his group moved to the Crossroads Hotel. A year later, Fela went to Accra to arrange a
tour of Ghana. On his return, to mark the first anniversary of the destruction of Kalakuta, Fela
married twenty seven women in a collective ceremony - many of them dancers and singers in
Afrika 70 (as he had recently rebranded Africa 70) After the wedding, the group set off for
Accra, where concerts had been planned. In a packed stadium, as Fela played “Zombie,” riots
broke out. The entire group was arrested and held in custody for two days before being put on
a plane for Lagos, banned from returning to Ghana.
On his return to the city, still with nowhere to live, Fela and his entourage occupied the
offices of Decca Records, with whom Fela was in dispute over royalties, remaining there for
almost two months.
Soon after, Fela was invited with the seventy-strong Afrika 70 to play at the Berlin Jazz
Festival. After the show, almost all of his musicians left the band. Despite this catalogue of
set-backs, Fela returned to Lagos determined to continue along his path.
The King of Afro-beat and his Queens went to live in Ikeja, in J. K. Braimah’s house; a new
Kalakuta. From there, Fela, more political than ever, went on to form his own party,
Movement of the People. He presented himself as a presidential candidate in the 1979
elections that would return the country to civilian rule. His candidature was refused. Four
years later, at the next election, Fela again stood for president, but was prevented from
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campaigning by the police, who once more rampaged through his house, imprisoning and
beating Fela and many of his followers. Any further presidential aspirations were crushed
when a coup brought Nigeria back to military rule.
In 1984, with General Buhari in power, Fela began serving twenty months of a five year
prison sentence on trumped-up currency smuggling charges. During his imprisonment he was
declared a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International. He was only released when,
under General Babangida, the judge who had sentenced him confessed to having acted with
such severity because of pressure from the previous regime. The judge was dismissed from
office and Fela was given his liberty.
Over the next decade, still with an entourage of over seventy people, now called Egypt 80,
Fela made several visits to Europe and the United States. The tours were to receive
tremendous public and critical acclaim, and made an important contribution to the worldwide
popular acceptance of African music and culture.
Considering himself to be the spiritual son of Kwame Nkrumah, the renowned Pan
Africanist, Fela was a scathing critic of colonialism and neo-colonialism. He became famous
as a spokesman for the great mass of people, in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa and the
African diaspora, who were disenchanted with post-independence Africa.
Fela’s death in August 1997 was mourned by practically the entire Nigerian nation; even
those who did not agree with some of his ideas respected him for his courage and for his
attacks on government corruption and violence. Over a million people attended his funeral,
and his family even received many unexpected letters of condolence from state officials
expressing their admiration for Fela. His death was attributed by some to Aids-related causes.
But a more popular diagnosis was that Fela’ system had been so weakened by the many
beatings he had received over the years, that it was no longer able to resist disease.
Throughout his life, Fela was sustained by the unconditional love and respect offered to him
by the millions of people whose lives he touched. In death he retains the elevated status by
which he was proclaimed, by the throngs of people who came to pay their last respects at his
laying in state, Abami Eda (Chief Priest).
Soon after his passing, Fela’s vast catalogue of music was made available throughout the
world, selling briskly and demonstrating a lively (and growing) interest in his work among
new generations. During 2009/10, work began in New York and London by knitting Factory
Records to re-release his entire 50-plus album collection in CD, vinyl and digital formats.
In October 2009, at the Eugene O’Neill Theater on New York’s legendary Broadway, the
musical Fela!, directed by Bill T Jones and co-produced by Sean Jay-Z Carter and Jada and
Will Pinkett-Smith, opened to critical and public acclaim. Before the end of 2010 more than
400,000 people had seen the show. A second production of Fela! opened at London’s
prestigious Royal National Theatre in November 2010 and an amalgamation of the two
companies are touring Europe and the United States in 2011/2012. In addition, a major
feature film was commissioned by Focus/Universal Pictures, depicting Fela’s life and times.
Fela’s musical legacy is also maintained by his children, with his eldest son, Femi, and his
youngest son, Seun, each creating their own inimitable style of Afrobeat. Femi, with his band
The Positive Force, and Seun, with Fela’s Egypt 80, regularly tour the world, each issuing
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albums of their innovative music.
In Nigeria, Fela’s eldest child, Yeni, together with Femi, has built and opened The New
Africa Shrine, a 2,000 capacity venue intended to honour Fela’s memory and to “contribute
to the evolution of African emancipation”. Each year, around the time of Fela birthday in
October, Yeni and Femi hold the Felabration festival, to commemorate the life and times of
their father. The festival takes place in the Shrine and throughout Lagos, featuring artists
from all over Nigeria and also including many distinguished artists from around the world, all
of them paying homage to the Black President.
In April, 2011. The Broadway cast of Fela! was transported to Lagos; 40 tons of equipment
and 80 people, to present a series of performances at the 3,000 capacity EKO Expo Centre
with a concert version opening the proceedings at the New Africa Shrine to a tumultuose
reception. Fela had come home! The EKO performances were equally triumphant and plans
are being made to return, as well as taking the production to other African countries.
By mid 2010, there were over fifty Afrobeat bands operating in Europe, the United States,
Britain, Japan and Australia.
A true African icon, Fela will live forever!
Jacqueline Grandchamp-Thiam
Paris
Rikki Stein
London
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Fela Kuti Timeline and Outline
***The Man***
-Born: Fela Ransome-Kuti, Oct 15 1938 – Abeokuta, Nigeria
-Died: August 2 1997
-complications relating to AIDS
-Brothers tried to convince him of AIDS
-rejected aids as a creation of the white man
-criticized condom use
-Femi carries on educational struggle about AIDS (Shoonmaker ’03)
-Over 1 million people attended the funeral at the old Shrine site
-Tafawa Balewa Square
-Mother: Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti
-feminist activist in anti-colonial movement
-Organized women protests of conditions in “The Market”
-brutalization and oppressive tax structures in the 1940s
-used song and chant to birth political messages and spark movements
-highly influential in Fela’s style, music, and political framework (Shonekan ’09)
-died of injuries received from being thrown from a window at Kalakuta Republic
-Father: Reverend Isreal Oludotun Ransome-Kuti
-Protestant minister
-School Principal
-First president of the Nigerian Union of Teachers
-Grandfather: J.J. Ransome-Kuti
-Pioneer of Nigerian Anglican Church to convert the Yoruba s
-Brothers
-Beko Ransome-Kuti (influential doctor and democratic activist)
-Olikoye Ransome-Kuti (doctor – world health advisor)
-Cousin: Iaureate Wole Soyinka
-First African to win Nobel Prize for Literature
-London
-sent in 1958 to study medicine
-decided to study music at Trinity College of Music
-enrolled as saxophonist after being inspired by powerful jazz
-viewed jazz as a “stepping-stone to African music” (Edwards ’07)
-Marriage/Sexuality/contradictions
-Remilekun Taylor – 1960
-three children (Femi, Yeni, and Sola)
-27 Women in 1978 – marking anniversary of Kalakuta attack
-Limited marriages to 12 – then divorced all indicting marriage for causing selfishness
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-paradoxial resistance of western morality and hedonism
- criticized condom use and the existence of AIDS as manifestations of western
imperialism (Waterman ’98)
-Strict and total control of Kalakuta
-Strict physical discipline of women
-believed sex was physical right of pleasure in nature and that power was derived from
having sex so he sought it as much as possible (Schoonmaker ’03)
- Part of the meaning of this action under these circumstances was an assertion of a Yoruba
identity in opposition to the predominantly Christian Nigerian government and as a form of
resistance to the process of development and Westernization being imposed on Nigerians at
the expense of indigenous tribal customs and practices. In Lagos, many perceived this ceremony
as aimed at criticizing the hypocrisy of some "prominent Nigerians who posed as modern,
monogamous men but openly kept numerous mistresses by whom they had children" (Howe ‘97).
-Kalakuta Republic
-Inspired in reaction to experiences of poverty and exclusion during 1969 trip to L.A
-"I said to myself: 'All African countries should open their doors to Africans from everywhere, especially
those in the Americas.' . . . So the idea of creating a place open to every African escaping persecution began
taking shape in this, my mind. Was that my first pan-Africanist idea? Maybe. At any rate, that's how the
idea of setting up a communal compound . . . came about. A place open to everybody." (Edwards ’07)
--Named Kalakuta in homage to the intelligent inmates met at Alagbon Close in “Kalakuta Cell” during his
11 month imprisonment in 1974 (Edwards ’07)
-Used word Republic to demonstrate that Nigeria has lost meaningful constitution via military control
(Schoonmaker ’03)
- The Kalakuta Republic was a small, fenced-in compound at 14A Agege Motor Road in Surulere. In size, it was
modest: a yellow two-story building with a slanted roof made of corrugated iron, surrounded by small out-buildings
that included a rehearsal studio and a health clinic run by Fela's brother Beko. In the courtyard, there was a small
plastic swimming pool and a petite menagerie: a monkey who clambered near the entrance, a donkey in the yard,
and the shaggy Alsatian, Wokolo. On the side of the main building, above the doorway, was a painted logo: a
silhouette of the African continent next to a thick-lined black 70. On the top bar of the 7, Fela's full name—Fela
Anikulapo-Kuti—was inscribed in white, and an image of his face looked out from the middle of the 0.
Kalakuta housed most of the dozen or so musicians, the more than two-dozen female dancers and singers, and much
of the staff, which—according to John Collins, a music writer who'd stayed there in January 1977 while working on
Fela's never-completed autobiographical film, The Black President—included bodyguards, drivers, a valet, a public
relations officer, a lawyer, and an electrician nicknamed "Nepa" after the acronym of the Nigerian Electrical Power
Authority (the residents of Lagos joked that it really stood for "Never Expect Power Always"). (Edwards ’07)
-self-declared as independent form Nigerian state
-frequent military raids – 1977 was largest
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-warned by Farrakhan at shrine during FESTAC of governmental desire to attack
(Schoonmaker ’03)
- retaliation for Zombie record sparked an attack by 1,000 soldiers
-Mother thrown from window causing fatal injuries
-Studio, instruments, mastertapes destroyed
-Fela beaten unconscious
-Many of the female dancers were raped
-Residents of compound arrested and taken naked through the streets
-Fela Jailed for 27 days
-Government investigation
-183 witnesses
-Put blame on single unknown soldier
-Fela attempted to sue but failed
-dramatic response in 30 min song “Unknown Soldier” (Edwards ’07)
- In the spring of 1977, Soyinka, by then one of Nigeria's most famous writers, defended
his cousin, testifying as a character witness at the public hearings about the incident at
Kalakuta. He argued that Fela's music was significant as a "contextual projection" that
evoked its surroundings—the suffering and striving of Lagos—as powerfully as Billie
Holiday's music evoked the American South, or an Irish folk song evoked the great
famine. "Music is a clue," Soyinka wrote a few years later, "in the direction of our real
battleground." (Edwards ’07)
-Afrika Shrine
-Night club at Empire Hotel
-formerly called Afro-spot
-performed regularly
-primary operations after raid of Kalakuta
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***The Music***
-Active: 1954-1997
-Began with highlife
-discovered Jazz in London
-Fela: “it was Louis Armstrong’s jazz first that got me” (Schoonmaker ’03)
-Fused influences with traditional aspects to create “Afrobeat”
-Multinstrumentalist: vocals, saxophone, keyboards, trumpet, guitar, drums
-Pioneer of Afrobeat
-developed in 1967 on a Ghana music mission along with Tony Allen
-He became dissatisfied with "highlife jazz" as the name of his music, and began a search
for a new one, "a real African name that is catchy" (Moore ‘75).
-He called a press conference and announced the name, Afrobeat, and established a club,
Afro-Spot, the prefix "Afro" signifying the emerging consciousness (Olaniyan ’01)
-fusion of jazz, funk, highlife, psychedelic, and traditional West African chant
- large instrument oriented band (40 pieces)
-groove styled melodies layered over polyrhythmic sections
-horn leads man themes (emphasized two baritone saxophones)
-experimented with two interlacing bass guitars
-extra-sonic and extra-musical production: limited over-focusing on lyrics by only singing on one
side of a record (Olaniyan ’01)
-call and response structures emulating jazz interaction
-long song sessions over 20min to 1hour
- the very sound of Afrobeat, while championed by Nigeria's underclass and progressives,
offended the sensibility of its elite and sent an unsettling message to the country's military
rule. Blaring from record shops throughout Lagos, its stabbing horn lines, aggressive jazz
solos, and irresistible rhythm-all united under Fela's coarse, hemp-smoked voice-came to be
heard as the sound of rebellion itself. (Waterman ’98 quoting Veal) -Femi: “Fela’s discography is a voyage through Nigerian history. Each track refers to some
Nigerian event or leader” (Schoonmaker ’03) -Miles Davis: “Afrobeat will be one of the musics of the future” 1988 (Schoonmaker ’03)
-Performances
-long psychedelic jam session based
-theatrical
-traditional dance – emphasized sexualized dancing of his “Queens”
-believed it was of Youi (Fertility goddess, Mama Africa) (Schoonmaker ’03)
-Femi: “Towards the end those dancers were really just like striptease”
(schoonmaker ’03)
-political expression
-performed shirtless as expression of traditional opposition to western standards
-symbolic gesture of identity politics modeling mother’s politicalization of traditional
dress
-traditional face painting referencing Egyption roots of the Yoruba– believed muted
orange was powerful color of nation (Schoonmaker ’03)
-use of collective voice and responsorial dialogue fervor
-draws upon African oral traditions
- Fela explained why his music wasn't sorrowful: "Despite my sadness I create joyful rhythms. . .
. I want to change sadness. I want people to be happy. And I can do it by playing happy music.
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And through happy music I tell you about the sadness of others. So they will come to realize that,
'Oh, we can be happy!'" (Edwards ’07)
-Album covers were political creations of Lemi
-“Alagbon Close” album cover was lemi’s first – reference to 1974 beating
-Cool Cats
-1954 joined as singer of local highlife band
-Koola Lobitos
-First band formed during Trinity years
-fusion of jazz and highlife
-reformed in 1963 back in Nigeria while Fela worked as a staff musician for Nigerian Broadcast
Corporation.
-Journeyed to the U.S. 1969
-Africa ‘70
-shifted lyrical content from love to social politics
-Sang in Pidgin English to include wider populations of Africa
-Ironic formulation of African syntax with English vocabulary
- Embraced a nativist exploration
Why Black Man Dey Suffer was released in 1971
-1971- Samaru, Zaria: First major afrobeat performance at Student Union Ahmadu Bello
University (Schoonmaker ’03)
-Publicly popular
-Unpopular with government
-1976 “Kalakuta Showe” telling of his arrest and beatings over involvement of an underage
dancer
-1977 Album “Zombie” powerful attack on Nigerian soldiers – sparked backlash
-Accra Concert 1978
-sparked riots during zombie
-caused ban on entry to Ghana
-Berlin Jazz Festival 1978
-musicians left over beliefs that proceeds would be for a presidential run
- Egypt ‘80
-, Reference to Egyptological Afrocentrism, and the teachings of a Ghanaian prophet, Professor
Hindu. (Waterman ’98)
-Formed after Berlin Jazz festival breakup of Africa ’70 and failed political run
-Challenged Nigerian government – criticizing general Olusegun Obasanjo with song
“International Thief-Thief”
-1981: “Original Sufferhead” album – vision of Africa’s rich resources, but could not be utilized
because of ineffective government
-Released album “Beasts of No Nation” challenging apartheid – 1989
-Over 45 albums of material produced but length of material and patchwork control of licensing
rights have limited availability to masses
- Motown Records offered a million dollar deal in early 1980’s only to be turned down (Culshaw
’04)
-Highly influential
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-James Brown
-Tony Allen, Fela's drummer and a key architect of Afrobeat, claims that Brown sent his
arranger, David Mathews, to check him out. 'He watches the movement of my legs and
the movement of my hands, and he starts writing down... They picked a lot from Fela
when they came to Nigeria. It's like both of them sort of influenced each other. Fela got
influenced in America, James Brown got the influence in Africa.' (Culshaw ’04)
-Afrobeat is hip-hop before formation of hip-hop (Schoonmaker ’03)
-Mos Def
-Opens “Black on Both Sides” with “Fear not of Man”
-“Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was James Brown, Huey Newton, Rich James, Bob Marley, Duke
Ellington, and ODB rolled up in one black African fist. The protest artist as a real live,
awake and hungry human being. Africa’s original rock superstar. The importance,
vitality, and power of his work can not be overestimated. A pure blend of ancestry and
modern marvel. If you don’t know about Fela you surely need to find out now…!”
(Quote on cover of Schoonmaker’s book)
-Common
-“Like Water For Chocolate” is philosophical testament to Fela
-Produced by Questlove and J.Dilla (formation of black bohemian sound)
-Black liberation scene of NY (Afro-house)
-electro dance (afrika bombatta)
-Timbaland
-Samples “Colonial Mindstate” for Missy Elliot “Whatcha Gonna Do”
-Soulquarians
-Outkast
-Goodie Mob, Dungeon Crew, embraced wide sound and social awareness from Fela
-Blackalicious
-Samples “Colonial Mindstate”
-Talib Kwali
-Nas
-samples “teacher don’t teach me nonsense” on “warrior song” (produced with Alicia
Keys)
-use of broken beats
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***The Movement***
Nigerian Backdrop
-1960 Independence
-Civil war 1967-70
-Jan. 1970: End of 30 month Civil War
-General Murtala Mohammed takes power – strongly against counterculture
-Oil boom in 70’s
-Feb 1976: General Olugegun Obasanjo takes control after Mohammed’s assassination –
continues fight against counterculture
-Rapid inflaction from foreign influence (Schoonmaker ’03)
U.S. Backdrop: Black Power
-introduced to Black Panther party during 1969 L.A. recording sessions
-introduced by Sandra Smith
-Described Reading the Autobiography of Malcolm X as a spark of historical thought,
-“Everything about Africa started coming back to me” (Shonekan ‘09)
-inspired the powerful permutation of combining art and politics
-Renamed band Nigeria ’70 after incorporating black power
-Renamed band Africa ’70 upon return to Nigeria
Anti-authoritarian
-Lifestyle was a performance of strong identity
- Fela "had no interest in perfect philosophic correctness," and that "contradictions of
a sometimes painful sort were apparent in Fela's own life and household" (Olaniyan ’01)
-lifestyle of open marijuana use in defiance of strict Governmental restrictions
-Challenged military governmentality
-“International Thief Thief” inspired by sit in staged in protest to government pressure for
cancellation of record contract with DECCA
-1977 – Asked to join planning committee for the Second World Black and African Festival of
Arts and Culture, hosted by General Obasanjo to promote traditional Nigerian Pride, but
rejected offer arguing it was “just one big hustle”(not true challenge to colonial
imperalism. Created counter-FESTAC at Shrine club (Edwards ’07)
-Delivered mother’s coffin to Dodan Barracks in Lagos (Military General’s home)
-response to 1977 raid
-Wrote “Coffin for Head of State” and “Unknown Soldier” as indictments
-Movement of the People
-Fela formed political party
-attempted presidential campaign in 1979 – denied candidacy
-despire privileged upbringing, aligned himself with the marginalized (Schoonmaker ’03)
-Published political challenges in local newspapers – challenged cultural hegemony under “Chief
Priest Say”
-Formed “Young African Pioneer” paper (YAP) with own printing press
-indicted religious and corporate institutions as exploitive mechanisms of the west
-see song: “M.A.S.S”
-Routinely beaten and jailed
-Jailed on vague counterfeit charges in 1985s – released during government change
-Judge later admitted that the government forced his hand (Schoonmaker ’03)
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- After he was wrongly charged with armed robbery, in 198I," says Femi, "he got the
beating of his life, and it was painful for him to carry the saxophone anymore. It
definitely affected him psychologically. He lost interest in recording - it seemed
retrogressive. He wasn't interested in material things anymore." (Goldman ’97)
-Briefly jailed and accused of drug charges and murder but released
Pan-Africanism
-Changing of name
-Fela (he who emanates greatness)
-changed middle name to Anikulapo (he who carries death in his pouch – argued “they”
couldn’t kill him with beatings)
-Kuti (one who cannot be killed by man)
-denounced “Ransome” as a slave name
-Referred to himself as “Abami Edo” (the strange one) and “Black President, the Chief of
the Shrine” (Culshaw ’04)
-believed resistance to western imperialism was utmost priority
-saw western feminism as colonial moral pressure (Schoonmaker ’03)
-incorporated socialist, Marxist, and political academic leanings
-believed upper class Africans betrayed traditional culture
-Influenced by Marcus Garvey’s “spending in the community” argument
-ordered use of local black soap and chewing of sticks instead of purchasing
touthbrushes
-sought for united democratic African Republic
-favored nationalistic identity of pride to western affect of colonialism and cultural imperialism
-believed African women were pushed to measure against European standards of
womanhood (See track: “lady”)
-Fela's nativism is not an atavistic return to roots but a reclaiming of "authentic
subjectivity": a subjectivity that expresses, that is, subjects, itself "freely" without the
element of a crudely obvious compulsion; the power and autonomy of Africa to selfdirect itself and its place in the world. (Olaniyan ’01)
-Complexity and contradiction allow him a dynamic 3D historical understanding of
Nigeria (Schoonmaker ’03)
- Yoruba people treat Fela with mythological significance claiming he has interaction with àshe
(Godlike power of influence) (Irobi ’04)
--By 1980s, Fela became ingrained in Nigerian psyche. Man/music/movement inseparable
(Schoonmaker ’03) governance
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