Radio 2
TX 4/11/2008
Time: 22.30 – 23.30
Presenter: Neneh Cherry
The AfroBeat Revolutionary – the Story of Fela Kuti
Fela Anikulapo Kuti created a unique sound, Afrobeat, but he was far more than a music star, in Nigeria he spoke out for the oppressed on all social issues. He was a cultural revolutionary, and paid the ultimate price. Neneh Cherry tells his story and highlights the relevance of his influence today on the music scene of Nigeria and across the world.
Living in Los Angeles in the 60's with a member of the Black Panthers, Sandra Isidore politicized Fela. During their relationship he devised a sound called Afrobeat by mixing powerful Nigerian drums with James Brown-style horns and his own 'free' blasts of saxophone and a Rhodes keyboard. Fela's quasi-rapping style and percolating guitars, all wrapped up in a smouldering groove driven by the band's brilliant drummer Tony Allen that could last nearly an hour, was an intoxicating sound.
Fela became the voice of Nigeria's have-nots. He was the outspoken critic of corruption - from colonialism, multinationals and 3 Nigerian presidents. Songs like: Zombie, I.T.T., International T'ief, T'ief and Upside Down. Nigeria's military junta were not happy and from the moment he returned to Nigeria up until his death, Fela was hounded, jailed, tortured and nearly killed by a government determined to silence him.
In 1977 Fela's 78 year old mother Funmilayo, a feminist who agitated for the vote for women, died after she was thrown out of a window during a government raid on Fela's compound, the Kalakuta Republic. This was not the only atrocity that occurred under General Obasanjo's junta. After the Kalakuta tragedy, Fela formed his own political party, MOP (Movement of the People) and at the start of the new decade renamed his band Egypt 80. In 1984 Fela was sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of currency smuggling. With help from Amnesty International and enormous support from well known artists around the world including Paul MacCartney and Stevie Wonder, he was freed in 1985. As the '80s ended, Fela recorded blistering attacks against Nigeria's corrupt military government, as well as broadsides aimed at Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan (most abrasively on the album Beasts of No Nation).
In 1997 he was arrested on a marijuana charge, the military government tried to humiliate him by parading him in hand cuffs on TV, but he was released after a public outcry and granted special dispensation – the only man in Nigeria allowed to smoke a joint! Sadly four months later, he died due to years of torture and abuse as well as the HIV virus. His death on August 3, 1997 deeply affected musicians and fans internationally, as a musical and socio-political voice on a par with Bob Marley was silenced. Over a million people lined the streets of Lagos for his funeral and the city ground to a standstill for 48 hours.
He had a prolific recording career releasing over 50 albums that offer up plenty of remarkable music and once he had recorded a song he never sang it again, to him it was done with. Today his musical legacy lives on in his talented sons, Femi and Seun - who now sings with his father’s old band. His daughter, Yeni now runs the Shrine in Lagos which Fela built to showcase his music and gives opportunities to local musicians. Every October in the week of his birth the Fela-bration takes place and 2008 would have been his 70th birthday so many Western musicians (Africa Express) converged on Lagos to pay homage to the Afrobeat Revolutionary by sharing their music. Even today Fela Kuti is still having a profound effect on musicians across the world – there are many Afrobeat bands, a musical based on Fela’s life had just opened to rave reviews off Broadway in New York, today(2011) it has become a global success and the cast continue to tour the show. A film of his life is currently in production.
