| Background | solo_singer |
|---|
| Birth name | Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti |
|---|
| Alias | Fela Anikulapo KutiFela Ransome-Kuti |
|---|
| Born | October 15, 1938 |
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| Died | August 02, 1997 |
|---|
| Origin | Abeokuta, Nigeria |
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| Instrument | Saxophone, vocals, keyboards, trumpet, guitar, drums |
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| Genre | Afrobeat |
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| Occupation | Singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, activist |
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| Years active | 1958–1997 |
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| Label | Barclay/PolyGram (world except US, Japan, and Nigeria)MCA/Universal Records (US)Celluloid Records (US)EMI Nigeria (Nigeria)JVC Records (Japan)Wrasse Records (UK, US)Shanachie (US)Knitting Factory (US) |
|---|
| Associated acts | Africa '70Egypt '80Koola LobitosNigeria '70Hugh MasekelaGinger BakerTony AllenFemi KutiSeun KutiRoy AyersLester Bowie |
|---|
| Url | felaproject.net |
|---|
Fela Anikulapo Kuti (; 15 October 1938 — 2 August 1997), or simply
Fela (), was a
Nigerian multi-instrumentalist
musician and
composer, pioneer of
afrobeat music,
human rights activist, and
political maverick. That was when Kuti first called his music Afrobeat. In 1969, Fela took the band to the
United States. While there, Fela discovered the
Black Power movement through Sandra Smith (now Izsadore)—a partisan of the
Black Panther Party—which would heavily influence his music and political views and renamed the band Nigeria '70. Soon, the
Immigration and Naturalization Service was tipped off by a promoter that Fela and his band were in the U.S. without work permits. The band then performed a quick recording session in
Los Angeles that would later be released as
The '69 Los Angeles Sessions.
After Fela and his band returned to Nigeria, the band was renamed The Africa '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 many connected to the band that he later declared independent from the Nigerian state. Fela set up a nightclub in the Empire Hotel, named the Afro-Spot and then the Afrika Shrine, where he performed regularly. Fela also changed his middle name to Anikulapo (meaning "he who carries death in his pouch"), Once again, Fela continued to release albums with Egypt '80, made a number of successful tours of the United States and Europe and also continued to be politically active. In 1986, Fela performed in Giants Stadium in New Jersey as part of the Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope concert, sharing the bill with Bono, Carlos Santana, and The Neville Brothers. In 1989, Fela and Egypt '80 released the anti-apartheid Beasts of No Nation album that depicts on its cover U.S. President Ronald Reagan, UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and South African Prime Minister Pieter Willem Botha with fangs dripping blood.
His album output slowed in the 1990s, and eventually he stopped releasing albums altogether. In 1993 he and four members of the Afrika '70 organization were arrested for murder. The battle against military corruption in Nigeria was taking its toll, especially during the rise of dictator Sani Abacha. Rumors were also spreading that he was suffering from an illness for which he was refusing treatment. On 3 August 1997, Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, already a prominent AIDS activist and former Minister of Health, stunned the nation by announcing his younger brother's death a day earlier from Kaposi's sarcoma which was brought on by AIDS. More than a million people attended Fela's funeral at the site of the old Shrine compound. A new Africa Shrine has opened since Fela's death in a different section of Lagos under the supervision of his son Femi Kuti.
Music
The musical style performed by Fela Kuti is called
Afrobeat, which is a complex fusion of
Jazz,
Funk (especially the music of
James Brown), Ghanaian/Nigerian High-life,
psychedelic rock, and traditional
West African chants and rhythms. Afrobeat also borrows heavily from the native "tinker pan" African-style percussion that Kuti acquired while studying in Ghana with
Hugh Masakela, under the uncanny Hedzoleh Soundz.
Political views
Kuti thought that the most important thing for Africans to fight is European
cultural imperialism, Kuti being a supporter of traditional religions and lifestyles. The American
Black Power movement influenced Fela's political views. He was also a supporter of
Pan-Africanism and
socialism, and called for a united, democratic African
republic. He was a candid supporter of
human rights, and many of his songs are direct attacks against
dictatorships, specifically the
militaristic governments of
Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s. He was also a social commentator, and he criticized his fellow Africans (especially the
upper class) for betraying traditional African culture. The African culture he believed in also included having many wives (
polygyny) and the
Kalakuta Republic was formed in part as a polygamist colony. He defended his stance on polygyny with the words "A man goes for many women in the first place. Like in Europe, when a man is married, when the wife is sleeping, he goes out and fucks around. He should bring the women in the house, man, to live with him, and stop running around the streets!" His views towards women are characterized by some as misogynist, with songs like "Mattress" typically cited as evidence In a more complex example, he mocks the aspiration of African women to European standards of ladyhood while extolling the values of the market woman in his song "Lady".
Bypassing editorial censorship in Nigeria's predominantly state controlled media, Kuti began in the 1970s buying advertising space in daily and weekly newspapers such as The Daily Times and The Punch in order to run outspoken political columns. Published throughout the 1970s and early 1980s under the title Chief Priest Say, these columns were essentially extensions of Kuti's famous Yabi Sessions—consciousness-raising word-sound rituals, with himself as chief priest, conducted at his Lagos nightclub. Organized around a militantly Afrocentric rendering of history and the essence of black beauty, Chief Priest Say focused on the role of cultural hegemony in the continuing subjugation of Africans. Kuti addressed a number of topics, from explosive denunciations of the Nigerian Government's criminal behavior; Islam and Christianity's exploitative nature, and evil multinationals; to deconstructions of Western medicine, Black Muslims, sex, pollution, and poverty. Chief Priest Say was cancelled, first by Daily Times then by Punch, ostensibly due to non-payment, but many commentators have speculated that the paper's respective editors were placed under increasingly violent pressure to stop publication.
The Fela revival
In recent years there has been a revitalization of Fela's influence on music and popular culture, culminating in another full re-release of his catalog controlled by Universal Music, off-and-on Broadway biopic shows, and new bands, such as
Antibalas, who carry the Afrobeat banner to a new generation of listeners.
In 1999, Universal Music France, under the aegis of Francis Kertekian, remastered the 45 albums that it controlled and released them on twenty-six compact discs. These titles were licensed to other territories of the world with the exception of Nigeria and Japan, where Fela's music was controlled by other companies. In 2005, Universal Music USA licensed all of its so-called world-music titles to the UK-based label Wrasse Records, which repackaged the same twenty-six CDs for distribution in the USA (replacing the MCA-issued titles there) and the UK. In 2009, Universal created a new deal for the USA with Knitting Factory Records, which included the release of the Fela! Broadway cast album.
Thomas McCarthy's 2007 film The Visitor depicted a disconnected professor (Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins) who wanted to play the djembe. He learns from a young Jordanian (Haaz Sleiman) who tells the professor he will never truly understand African music unless he listens to Fela. The film features clips of Fela's "Open and Close" and "Je'nwi Temi (Don't Gag Me)."
In 2008, an off-Broadway production of Fela Kuti's life titled Fela! began with a collaborative workshop between the Afrobeat band Antibalas and Tony award winner Bill T. Jones. The show was a massive success, selling out shows during its run, and garnering much critical acclaim. On November 22, 2009, Fela! began a run on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theater. Jim Lewis helped co-write the play (along with Bill T. Jones), and obtained producer backing from Jay-Z, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Stephen Hendel, and Stephen Semlitz. The show received rave reviews from The New York Times, saying that the musical "[Fela!] doesn't so much tell a story as soak an audience to and through the skin with the musical style and sensibility practiced by its leading man." Sahr Ngaujah and Kevin Mambo share/alternate the magnetic lead role, and Antibalas continues to provide the music, taking on the role of the Nigeria 70. On May 4, 2010, Fela! was nominated for 11 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Direction of a Musical for Bill T. Jones, Best Leading Actor in a Musical for Sahr Ngaujah, and Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Lillias White.
On August 18, 2009, award winning DJ J.Period released a free mixtape to the general public via his website that was a collaboration with Somali-born hip hop artist K'naan paying tribute to Fela, Bob Marley and Bob Dylan entitled The Messengers.
In October 2009, Knitting Factory Records began the process of re-releasing the 45 titles that Universal Music controls, starting with yet another re-release of the compilation The Best of the Black President in the USA. The rest is expected to be released in 2010.
In addition, a movie by Focus Features, directed by Steve McQueen and written by Biyi Bandele about the life of Fela Kuti is slated to be filmed in 2010.
Discography
Filmography
Fela in Concert 1981, (VIEW)
Music is the Weapon 1982, Stéphane Tchal-Gadjieff & Jean Jacques Flori, (Universal Music)
Fela Live! Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and the Egypt ’80 Band 1984, Recorded Live At Glastonbury, England (Yazoo)
Femi Kuti—Live at the Shrine 2005, Recorded Live At Lagos, Nigeria (Palm Pictures)
Notes
References
External links
'He was in a godlike state' - Guardian feature
The Shrine Unofficial website for Fela Kuti and Afrobeat Music with news, bio's, tour dates, gig reviews, interviews, lyrics and forum.
Fela Kuti article rom thee New Official Ginger Baker Archive and Drummers forum launched by the Baker family September 2010
Category:1938 births
Category:1997 deaths
Category:Nigerian musicians
Category:Nigerian songwriters
Category:Nigerian saxophonists
Category:Bandleaders
Category:Pan-Africanism
Category:People from Abeokuta
Category:AIDS-related deaths in Nigeria
Category:Polygamy
Category:Yoruba musicians
Category:World music musicians
Category:Trinity College of Music alumni
Category:MCA Records artists
