Notes

Fela: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
Fela Kuti

The life of Fela is full contradictions, which is part of what makes him captivating. People who love him are able to overlook his shortcomings.


His songs typically last longer than 20 minutes and are sung in dense, almost unintelligible Pidgin English. His music is heavily influenced by Christian hymns and classical music, jazz, Yoruba singing, and horn-andguitar heavy highlife.

He was a musician

Fela Kuti embodied that music can be a tool to transform the world. His music was used to call for political, social and economic change. His influence is still felt to this day. Afrobeat is a musical style that blends African and Western influences. Its roots are in West-African and funk. However, it has evolved into a completely new genre.

His political activism was ferocious and he did it without fear. He used his music to protest against corruption in the government and human rights violations. Songs like "Zombie", "Coffin for the State Head" and others were shrewd critiques of Nigeria's regime. The residence he lived in, Kalakuta Republic, as a hub for political activism as well as an opportunity to meet like-minded individuals.

The production includes a massive portrait of his mother, who died in the past Funmilayo ransome-Kuti. She was a prominent feminist and activist. Shantel Cribbs portrays her and she does an excellent job of expressing her significance in Fela's life. The play also highlights on her political activism. Despite her declining health, she refused to undergo tests for AIDS. Instead she opted for traditional treatment.

He was a musician

The Fela Ransome Kuti was a complex man who used his music to facilitate political change. He is credited as the originator of afrobeat, an invigorating hybrid of funk and traditional African rhythms. He was a fierce critic of Nigeria's religious and political leaders.

Being raised by an anti-colonial suffragist mother and a feminist father, it's not a surprise that Fela had a passion for political and social commentary. His parents believed that he would be a doctor but there were other goals for him.

While he started in a more apolitical, highlife vein, a trip to America changed his outlook forever. His music was profoundly affected by his exposure to Black Power movements and the leadership such as Eldridge Clever and Malcolm X. He adopted a Pan-Africanism ethos, which would influence and inform his later work.

He was a songwriter

Fela encountered Black Power activists like Stokely Carmichael, and Malcolm X during his time in the United States. This experience led him to create an activist group known as the Movement of the People and create songs that reflected the ideas that he held about political activism and black awareness. His philosophies were expressed in public through the medium of yabis, which is a form of public speaking which was referred to as "freedom of expression". He also started to impose an ethical code on his band. This included refusing to accept prescriptions from Western-trained doctors.

After returning to Nigeria Fela began to build his own club, the Shrine in Ikeja. Raids from police and military officials were almost all the time. Mosholashi-Idi-Oro's hangers-on repopulated the area around the club with hard drugs, particularly 'bana' and 'yamuna' (heroin). However, fela railroad settlements was a man of uncompromising integrity. His music is a testimony of his determination to challenge authority and demanding that the popular goals are manifested in official goals. It is an influence that will last for generations.

He was a poet

Fela's music used sarcasm and humor to bring attention to political and economic issues in Nigeria. He also poked fun at his audience, the government, and even himself. In these shows, he referred to himself as "the big fish in the small pond." These jokes were not viewed lightly by the authorities, and he suffered repeated arrests, imprisonments and beatings at the hands of the authorities. He was eventually given the name Anikulapo, which means "he carries his death in his bag."

In 1977, Fela released a song called "Zombie" in which he compared soldiers with blind zombies who obeyed orders without question. The military was offended by the song and they raided the Kalakuta Republic, burning it down and beating its inhabitants. In the course of the raid, the mother of Fela was thrown out of her second-floor window.

Fela developed Afrobeat during the years that following the nation's independence. Afrobeat is a music genre that combines jazz with indigenous African rhythm. His songs criticised European imperialism in culture and praised African traditional religions and cultures. He also criticized fellow Africans for disrespecting their country's traditions. He stressed the importance of freedom and human rights.

He was a rapper

A saxophonist, trumpeter, composer and pioneer of the Afrobeat genre, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was born in 1938 in Abeokuta, Nigeria. He was inspired by rock, jazz, and roll as well as traditional African music, chants and music. After a trip to the United States, Fela met Sandra Smith. She was an activist in the Black Power Movement. Her ideas influenced his work.

Fela's music was a political instrument after his return to Nigeria. He criticized the government of his country of birth and argued that African culture should not be diluted by Western sensibilities. He also wrote about social injustices and human rights abuses. He was arrested repeatedly for his criticism of the military.

Fela also sporadically advocated for the use of marijuana, known as "igbo" in Africa. He held "yabis" (public discussions) at Afrika Shrine, where he would mock government officials and spread his views on freedom of expression and beauty of women's bodies. Fela had an harem, which was a group of young women who performed in his shows as well as backing him vocally.

He was a dancer

Fela was a master of musical fusion. He incorporated elements from beat music, and highlife to create his own distinct style. He was a leading African musician and a vocal critic of colonial ruling.

Despite being snatched and tortured by the Nigerian military junta and seeing his mother killed, Fela refused to leave the country. He died in 1997 of AIDS-related complications.

Fela was a political activist who was critical of the oppressive Nigerian government and believed in the principles of Pan Africanism. His albums including 1973's Gentleman focused on fighting oppression from both colonial and government parties. He also emphasized black power and decried Christianity and Islam as non-African imports, which have been used to divide the people of Africa. Shuffering and Smiling is the title track from a 1978 album. It describes overcrowded public transports filled with poor workers, "shuffering and smiling". Fela was a fierce enemy of religious hypocrisy. His dancers were a great complement to his music. They were vivacious, sensual, and elegant. Their contributions to the show were as important as Fela's words.

He was an activist for the political cause.

Fela Kuti utilized music as a tool to challenge oppressive authorities. He took his knowledge of American jazz and funk to African modes and rhythms, creating music that is ready for a fight. Most of his songs begin as simmering instrumentals, slowly adding short-lined melodies and riffs until they burst with urgency.

Contrary to the majority of artists, who were hesitant to publicly discuss their political views, Fela was fearless and unbending. He stood for his beliefs even when it was dangerous to do so. Funmilayo Ransome Kuti was a feminist who led the Nigerian Women's Movement. His father was a protestant minister, and the teacher's union president.

He also founded Kalakuta Republic - a recording studio and commune that grew into an emblem of the resistance. The government raided Kalakuta's Republic which destroyed property and injuring Fela. He refused to give up and continued to speak out against the government. He passed away in 1997 due to complications related to AIDS. His son Femi continues to carry on his musical and political legacy.

He was a father

Music is often seen by many as a political act. Artists use lyrics to call for a change. But some of the most effective music-related protests do not use words in any way. Fela Kuti was one such artist and his music is still ringing out today. He was the first to pioneer Afrobeat that combines traditional African rhythms and harmonies with funk and jazz in the style of artists like James Brown.

Funmilayo Ransome Kuti was Fela's activist mother. She was a unionist and fought colonialism. She helped form the Abeokuta Women's Union and fought against gender-discriminatory taxation laws. She also was a Marxist and believed that Nigeria should be serving its entire population.

Seun Fela's son is carrying the legacy of his father through a group dubbed Egypt 80. The band is touring the world in this year. The music of Egypt 80 combines the sounds of Fela and a scathing critique of power structures that still exist today. Black Times will be released at the end of March. Thousands of fans gathered to pay their respects at the funeral in Tafawa Balewa square. The crowd was so large that police had to shut down the entrance to the location.

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