Skip to main content

Fela Kuti

make-up for the Gods, smoke for inspiration
make-up for the Gods, smoke for inspiration
Fela came from a well-off family of Abeokuta. Soon after Nigeria was made independent, he went to England to study music at Trinity College, classical music at first and soon turned to jazz. He played there with a band called the Koola Lobitos which was fairly successful in the clubs in London in the early sixties.
He went back to Nigeria and recreated his band, gathered influence from James Brown, highlife music and developed a musical style progressively known as Afrobeat. His band was renamed Nigeria 70 at the beginning of the 70's
He travelled to the US on tour and was introduced by Sandra Izsadore to the conditions of black americans and the black liberation movements with the politics of Malcolm X among others.

Upon his return to Nigeria, he became more active politically. He set-up a recording studio called Kalakuta republic and a night-club not too far called the Shrine. He was opposing to the rule of Generals who had power with the Army but also good ties with businesses. He did that through his songs that were like weapons he used to anger the political class in power which soon created him enemies.

Kalakuta was a republic, well certainly a place like no other in Lagos, Fela and his 27 concubines and singer/dancer. One day, he married all of them traditionally in an effort to give a status in the society. At one point, in 1977,  Kalakuta was attacked by the police, a few people died, his wife were beaten and some raped, his mother was thrown an upstairs window, he got a skull fracture... He went to jail for some time. But this did not discourage him from going ahead with his provocative style. He formed a political party called the Movement of the People (MOP).

Fela's pantheon
Fela's pantheon

In the 80's his band was called Egypt and the 80's, the band now plays with his son Seun.
After the death of of his beloved mother, who was a leading feminist and anti-colonialist figure, he turned to his Yoruba roots and started to honor their gods. He also became famous as a serious weed-smoker.

He died in 1997 of AIDS, got funerals organized at the National Stadium in Lagos were more than 10 thousand people turned up to pay their respect.

Three of his children are now famous, Femi the elder son who made a career as saxophonist, Seun who is really carrying the flame of Afrobeat from his father and a daughter who is heading the New Afrika Shrine, the heir of the Afrika Shrine. So the fight goes on...

For those who would like to find out more, there is a movie called "Finding Fela" which was done on the occasion of a musical hold in New York City a few years ago. The show tried to explain the life of Fela through the various parts of his life and the film told the story of Fela by complementing video archives with scenes of the musical for which no archive footage was suitable.
There is also a book called "Fela, this bitch of a life" by Carlos Moore which is the "unabridged & authorized biography of Africa's musical genius"

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Ogiamien family in Benin City: about wood and history

Roland Ogiamien in his wood-carving workshop Wood Roland Ogiamien is a renown wood carver. He is now retired in his home town of Benin City and is now in his 80s. We met him in his simple workshop, a barn opened on the surrounding greenery. A part of the studio is used to store wood pieces and make sure they are well dried. He is using a collection of german ustensils to carve and polish the wood. He spent most of his career working out of Lagos before relocating to Benin. Roland was explaining that the wood he uses today is different that the one he worked on in his early days. Ebony has become rare and wood carvers have had to switch to other types of wood. Traditional heritage is a large part of his inspiration which he translates on wood with his own particular style, exploring various techniques for the finish of his pieces. Roland Ogiamien and two of his favourite masks History Ogiamien is the name of an important royal family in Benin Kingdom. Towards the end of the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Victor Uwaifo, the Highlife music legend from Benin City

Prof. (Sir) Victor Uwaifo playing Joromi Benin City is famous for its millenary culture that can be traced back to the beginning of the 10th century AD with a dynasty of about 30 rulers called Ogisos. They were followed by the Obas, that have been ruling until today. The city is famous for its bronze casting tradition and also for its music. Prof. Victor Uwaifo is one of the musical legends of Nigeria. He was the first African to win a Record Golden Disc in Africa with a music title called Joromi back in 1966. He spearheaded Highlife music in his own way and represented Nigeria at Festac, Black and Arts festival, in 1977 in Lagos. Music has always occupied a large part of his life but Prof. is also known to be a man of many talents. He was a good sportsman and he diversified his career by studying arts and sculpture in particular. He has taught for years at Uniben (the University of Benin City) and obtained a PhD in that field in the late 1990s. Victor Uwaifo representing...
Post a Comment
Read more

Iragbiji, the town of Chief Muraina Oyelami

running up the hill Iragbiji is a small but lively town, in Osun state, surrounded by hills made of curvy rocks emerging from the plain and partly patched with green. It is part of Yorubaland, about sixty kilometres East of Osogbo . The heart of the town is the palace of the Oba (King of the area) next to a yellow multi-storeyed central mosque. The Oba is a muslim. the Oba of Iragbiji Chief Muraina Oyelami , a versatile artist born in 1940, is residing in Iragbiji. He is both a talented talking-drum player and a painter. He welcomed us in his house for a talk on Yoruba culture especially about the talking drums which evolved in shape overtime to the modern form of goat skin cylinder whose sound can be altered by squeezing the ropes that are tied along the circumference of the drum to produce tons and therefore allows to emulate the Yoruba language through rhythm and tonality. three sets of Yoruba drums There are actually three types of drums each playing a specific ro...
Post a Comment
Read more