Who is Fela?
Beginning in the 1960s, Fela Kuti pioneered his own distinct musical style known as “Afrobeat.” Rebellion against oppressive regimes through music came at a high price for him. Kuti was arrested 200 times and beaten severely, but he continued to write political lyrics and released 50 albums before dying on August 2, 1997, in Lagos, Nigeria.
Early Years
Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome Kuti, a musician and political activist, was born on October 15, 1938, in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Kuti was the son of Reverend Ransome-Kuti, a Protestant minister. Funmilayo, his mother, was a political activist.
Kuti grew up playing the piano and drums and singing in his school choir. Kuti told his parents in the 1950s that he was going to London, England, to study medicine, but instead ended up at the Trinity College of Music. Kuti studied classical music at Trinity and became interested in American jazz.
Songs: Activism through Music
Kuti formed the Koola Lobitos band in 1963. He would later rename the band Afrika 70, and then Egypt 80. Kuti pioneered and popularized his own distinct style of music known as “Afrobeat” beginning in the 1960s. Afrobeat is a fusion of funk, jazz, salsa, calypso, and traditional Yoruba music from Nigeria. In addition to their distinct mixed-genre style, Kuti’s songs were distinguished from more commercially popular songs by their length, which ranged from 15 minutes to an hour. Kuti performed in a mix of Pidgin English and Yoruba.
Kuti’s rebellious song lyrics established him as a political dissident in the 1970s and 1980s. As a result, Afrobeat has become synonymous with making political, social, and cultural statements against greed and corruption. “Zombie,” one of Kuti’s songs, questions Nigerian soldiers’ blind obedience to orders. “V.I.P.” (Vagabonds in Power) is another.
Kuti released Beasts of No Nation in 1989, three years after touring the United States. Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, among others, are depicted as cartoon vampires with bloody fangs on the album cover.
Kuti’s rebellious song lyrics established him as a political dissident in the 1970s and 1980s. As a result, Afrobeat has become synonymous with making political, social, and cultural statements against greed and corruption. “Zombie,” one of Kuti’s songs, questions Nigerian soldiers’ blind obedience to orders. Another, “V.I.P. (Vagabonds in Power),” aims to mobilize the disenfranchised masses to revolt against the government.
Kuti released Beasts of No Nation in 1989, three years after touring the United States. Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, among others, are depicted as cartoon vampires with bloody fangs on the album cover.
Kuti paid a high price for rebelling against oppressive regimes through his music, as he was arrested 200 times by the Nigerian government and subjected to numerous beatings that left him with lifelong scars. Rather than abandoning his cause, Kuti used his experiences to inspire him to write more lyrics. Over the course of his musical career, he released approximately 50 albums, including songs for Les Negresses under the pseudonym Sodi in 1992.
Personal Life
Kuti practised polygamy. The first of Kuti’s wives was a woman named Remi. Kuti married 27 more women in a single wedding ceremony in 1978. He would eventually divorce all of them. Kuti and Remi had three children: a son, Femi, and two daughters, Yeni and Sola. Sola died of cancer in 1997, not long after her father died. The Positive Force, a band they founded in the 1980s, included all three of their children.
Death
Kuti died of AIDS-related complications on August 2, 1997, in Lagos, Nigeria, at the age of 58. Approximately one million people witnessed 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.
