Fela
Kuti was born on October 15, 1938, in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Beginning in the
1960s, Kuti pioneered his own unique style of music called "Afrobeat."
Rebelling against oppressive regimes through his music came at a heavy cost.
Kuti was arrested 200 times and endured numerous beatings, but continued to
write political lyrics, producing 50 albums before he died on August 2, 1997,
in Lagos, Nigeria.
Early life and career
Fela was born Olufela Olusegun
Oludotun Ransome-Kuti on 15 October 1938 in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria into
an upper-middle-class family. His mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, was a
feminist activist in the anti-colonial movement; his father, Reverend Israel
Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, an Anglican minister and school principal, was the first
president of the Nigeria Union of Teachers. His brothers, Beko Ransome-Kuti and
Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, both medical doctors, are well known in Nigeria. Fela is a first cousin to the Nigerian writer
and Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka.
He attended Abeokuta Grammar School,
Abeokuta and later he was sent to London in 1958 to study medicine but decided
to study music instead at the Trinity College of Music, the trumpet being his
preferred instrument. In Trinity College, he formed the band Koola Lobitos, playing a fusion of jazz and highlife.
In 1960, 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. He
played for some time with Victor Olaiya and his All Stars.
In 1967, he went to Ghana to think up
a new musical direction. That was when Kuti first called his music Afrobeat. In
1969, Fela took the band to the United States where they spent 10 months in Los
Angeles.
In 1970s
After Fela and his band returned to
Nigeria, the group was renamed The Afrika '70, as lyrical themes changed from
love to social issues. He then formed the Kalakuta Republic, a commune, a
recording studio, and a home for the many people connected to the band that he
later declared independent from the Nigerian state. (According to Lindsay
Barrett, the name "Kalakuta" derived from the infamous Black Hole of
Calcutta dungeon in India.)
Fela set up a nightclub in the Empire Hotel,
first named the Afro-Spot and then the Afrika Shrine, where he both performed
regularly and officiated at personalized Yoruba traditional ceremonies in
honour of his nation's ancestral faith. He also changed his middle name to
Anikulapo (meaning "He who carries death in his pouch", with the
interpretation: "I will be the master of my own destiny and will decide
when it is time for death to take me"),stating that his original middle
name of Ransome was a slave name. Fela's music was popular among the Nigerian
public and Africans in general. In fact, he made the decision to sing in Pidgin
English so that his music could be enjoyed by individuals all over Africa,
where the local languages spoken are very diverse and numerous. As popular as
Fela's music had become in Nigeria and elsewhere.
.
In 1977, 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) 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 then took residence
in Crossroads Hotel, as the Shrine had been destroyed along with his commune.
In 1978, Fela married 27 women, many of whom were his dancers, composers, and
singers to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Kalakuta Republic. Later,
he was to adopt a rotation system of keeping only 12 simultaneous wives. 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.
1980s and Beyond
In 1984, 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.[15] Amnesty designated him a prisoner of conscience, and
his case was also taken up by other human rights groups. 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"
Death
Fela Kuti died of AIDS-related
complications on August 2, 1997, at the age of 58, in Lagos, Nigeria. Roughly 1
million people attended his funeral procession, which began at Tafawa Balewa
Square and ended at Kuti's home, Kalakuta, in Ikeja, Nigeria, where he was laid
to rest in the front yard.
Source:
A&E Television
Publication on Biography of Activist Fela Kuti
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