Fela Anikulapo Kuti (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, October 15, 1938 - August 2, 1997), or simply Fela, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick.

Biography

Kuti was born in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria[1] to a middle-class family. His mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, was a feminist active in the anti-colonial movement and his father, Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, a Protestant minister and school Principal, was the first president of the Nigerian Union of Teachers. His older brothers, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti and Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, were both well known in Nigeria.

Fela relocated to London in 1958 with the intention of studying medicine but decided to study music instead at the Trinity College of Music. While there, he formed the band Koola Lobitos, playing a style of music he called Afrobeat. The style was a fusion of American jazz with West African highlife. In 1961 Fela married his first wife, Remilekun (Remi) Taylor, with whom he would have three children (Femi, Yeni and Sola). In 1963 Fela moved back to Nigeria, re-formed Koola Lobitos and trained as a radio producer for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1969 Fela took the band to the United States. While there, Fela discovered the black power movement through Sandra Izsadore -- a friend of the Black Panther Party--which would heavily influence his music and political views and renamed the band "Nigeria 70". Soon, the Immigration and Naturalization Service were tipped off by a promoter that Fela and his band were in the US without work permits. The band then performed a quick recording session in Los Angeles, which would later be released as "The ´69 Los Angeles Sessions".

Fela and his band, renamed "Africa ´70" returned to Nigeria. He then formed the Kalakuta Republic, a commune, a recording studio and a home for many connected to the band which he later declared independent from the Nigerian state. Fela set up a nightclub in the Empire Hotel, named the Afro-Spot and then the Shrine, where he performed regularly. Fela also changed his middle name to "Anikulapo" (meaning "he who carries death in his pouch"), stating that his original middle name of Ransome was a slave name. The recordings continued, and the music became more politically motivated. Fela´s music became very popular among the Nigerian public and Africans in general. In fact, he made the decision to sing in English so that his music could be enjoyed by individuals all over Africa, where the languages spoken are very diverse and numerous. 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 1974 the police arrived with a search warrant and a cannabis joint, which they had intended to plant on Fela. He became wise to this and swallowed the joint. In response, the police took him into custody and waited to examine his feces. Fela enlisted the help of his prison mates and gave the police someone else´s feces, and Fela was freed. He then recounted this tale in his release Expensive Shit.

In 1977 Fela and the Afrika 70 released the hit 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 with the people 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 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 if it were not 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 an army barrack and write two songs, "Coffin for Head of State" and "Unknown Soldier," referencing the official inquiry which claimed the commune had been destroyed by an unknown soldier.

Fela and his band then took residence in Crossroads Hotel as the Shrine had been destroyed along with his commune. In 1978 Fela married twenty seven women, many of whom were his dancers and singers to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Kalakuta Republic. The year was also marked by two notorious concerts, the first in Accra in which riots broke out during the song "Zombie" which led to Fela being banned from entering Ghana. The second was at the Berlin Jazz Festival after which most of Fela´s musicians deserted him, due to rumors that Fela was planning to use the entirety of the 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". In 1979 he put himself forward for President in Nigeria´s first elections for more than a decade but his candidature was refused. At this time, Fela created a new band called "Egypt 80" and continued to record albums and tour the country. He further infuriated the political establishment by dropping the names of ITT vice-president Moshood Abiola and General Olusegun Obasanjo at the end of a hot-selling 25-minute political screed entitled "International Thief Thief".

In 1983 he again ran for President but was again attacked by police, who threw him in prison on a dubious charge of currency smuggling. His case was taken up by several human-rights groups, and after twenty months, he was released from prison by General Ibrahim Babangida. On his release he divorced his twelve remaining wives. 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. In 1986, Fela performed in Giants Stadium in New Jersey as part of the Amnesty International "Conspiracy of Hope" concert, sharing the bill with Bono, Carlos Santana, and The Neville Brothers.

His album output slowed in the 1990s, and eventually he stopped releasing albums altogether. The battle against military corruption in Nigeria was taking its toll, especially during the rise of dictator Sani Abacha. Rumors were also spreading that he was suffering from an illness for which he was refusing treatment. On August 3, 1997 Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, already a prominent AIDS activist, stunned the nation by announcing his younger brother´s death a day earlier from Kaposi´s sarcoma brought on by AIDS. (Their elder brother Dr. Beko was in jail at this time at the hand of Abacha for political activity). More than a million people attended Fela´s funeral at the site of the old Shrine compound.

Music

The musical style performed by Fela Kuti is called Afrobeat, which is essentially a fusion of jazz, funk and Traditional African Chant. It is characterized by having African style percussion, vocals, and musical structure, along with jazzy, funky horn sections. The "endless groove" is also used, in which a base rhythm of drums, muted guitar, and bass guitar are repeated throughout the song. This is a common technique in African and African-influenced musical styles, and can be seen in funk and hip-hop. Some elements often present in Fela´s music are the call-and-response with the chorus and figurative but simple lyrics. Fela´s songs were almost always over ten minutes in length, some reaching the twenty or even thirty minute marks. This was one of many reasons that his music never reached a substantial degree of popularity outside of Africa. His songs were mostly sung in Nigerian pidgin, 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, horn, guitar and made 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.

Political views

The American Black Power movement influenced Fela´s political views. He was also a supporter of Pan-Africanism and socialism (although in a 1982 documentary he can clearly be seen rejecting both capitalism and socialism in favour of a third way that he described as Africanism), and called for a united, democratic African republic. He was a fierce supporter of human rights, and many of his songs are direct attacks against dictatorships, specifically the militaristic governments of Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s. He was also a social commentator, and criticized his fellow Africans (especially the upper class) for betraying traditional African culture. The African culture he believed in also included having many wives (polygyny) and the Kalakuta Republic was formed in part as a polygamist colony. Though not part of African culture, it should be noted though that Fela was very open when it came to sex, as he portrayed in some of his songs, like "Open and Close."

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Chang, Jeff. “Femi Kuti: Afrobeat Agitator,” Mother Jones, September/October 2001, p. 82-83.

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Jibo, Terna Heuston. “Rising Son”, Straight No Chaser, Spring 1999.
"My Life In Prison” by Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Interviewed by Dele Olojede; Newswatch, May 12, 1986, p. 12-20.

Newsome, Rachel. “Freeing the African Mind,” Life: The Observer Magazine, April 4, 1999. p. 21-24.

Olaniyan, Tejumola. "The Cosmopolitan Nativist: Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and the Antinomies of Postcolonial Modernity," Research in African Literatures, 32.2 (Summer 2001): p. 76-89.

Olowo, Bola. with additional reporting by Christy Ebong and Joy Adenlolu, “Fela: The King of Afro-Beat Dies,” West Africa, August 11-17, 1997.

Onishi, Norimitsu. “Nigeria Echoes to the Beat That Defied Tyrants,” The New York Times, September 11, 2000.

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Revue Noire. Nigeria Issue, no. 30, Sept – Oct 1998.

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Van Pelt, Carter. “Africaman Original: Fela Anikulapo-Kuti,” The Beat, Vol. 16, #5/6 1997, p. 52-59.

Discography by Toshiya Endo
http://biochem.chem.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~endo/EAFela.html

Videos /Film

Music is the Weapon, Stephane Tchal-Gadjieff and Jean Jacques Flori, 1983.

Black President, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, 1977.

Fela and Roy Ayers: Africa ’79, Family One Productions, 1987.

Fela in Concert (Paris), 1981.

Fela Live (Glastonbury), Shanachie, 1984.

Fela Live in Amsterdam

Fela: Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense, BBC, 1984

Femi Kuti: The New King of Afrobeat, Jean-François Hensgens