Not much can be said about the progression of Nigeria music especially the Afrobeat genre without the contribution of the great Fela Anikulapo Kuti, whose blend of smooth sailing jazz fused with highlife dominated the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.
His early life
Fela ‘Anikulapo’ – which means the one carries death in his pouch – Kuti born Olufela Olusegun Oludoton Ransome-Kuti to Olufunmilayo Ransome-Kuti, the first woman to drive a car in Nigeria and Reverend Israel Ransome-Kuti then, the principal of Abeokuta Grammar School on the 15th of October 1938 in Abeokuta. Born to a reverend and a pioneering feminist, Fela was raised by strict disciplinarians who believed and followed the “spare the rod and spoil the child” dictum. Nevertheless, they were loving and caring parents. By 1946 Fela, encouraged by his father, began piano lessons, unbeknownst to both of them that this would be the catalyst that spurs him into his legendary music career and would go on to create the genre popularly known as “afrobeat”. At sixteen, Fela meets Jimo Kombi Braimah also known as “JK” and they become fast friends. He later comes to be known as Fela’s confidant and the most important person in his life. JK who played the trumpet for Victor Olaiya’s highlife band, the Cool Cats brought Fela into the Lagos music scene. Inspired by his friend and popular American jazz played in clubs, Fela decides to learn how to play the trumpet. A few years after the death of his father, Fela left for London to fully pursue music in 1958 against his parents wish to study medicine. Later when his mother sees that he’s determined to follow the music path, she grudgingly gives her blessings. In London, Fela fails the music-theory paper of the entrance exam into Trinity college of music, but is given another opportunity due to the distance which he traveled to attend the school and his trumpet skills. His hunger for music had him wading through the back-rooms of jazz clubs in London, just to get a taste of music in any form. By 1959, Fela finally formed his first group – Fela Ransome-Kuti and the highlife Rakers, they dropped a few tracks before the finally disbanded in 1960. Fela went on to form his second group called the “Koola Lobitos” with JK as the lead guitarist.
His Music
After the birth of his daughter and son, Remi and Femi Kuti, Fela graduated from Trinity college of music. By 1963, Fela and the Koola Lobitos took their music to Nigeria and their record was played by the Nigeria Broadcasting Company. Captivated by his music, NBC hired Fela for the junior producer position in 1964 and later fired him in 1965 because he favored highlife over jazz which was not really a mainstream music at the time. Fela and the Koola Lobitos went on to become an international highlife-jazz sensation for the next few years and by 1971 Fela changed the name of the band from Koola Lobitos to Afrika 70.
His Activisim
In wake of the international tours especially in America, Fela was greatly influenced by Sandra Iszadore whom he befriends during the tour. She introduced him to American politics and activism and it is said that during his time with her, he began to use weed daily. On his return to Nigeria, Fela’s music became a medium to air his political outcry. Fela used his music as a weapon to fight against oppression from the government’s militant’s rule. As Fela became more direct about his political activism, he became the champion of the young unemployed, middle class, lower class and mainly the disadvantaged and oppressed folks who finally felt seen and less alone in their problems. This political activism led to clashes with the military government with frequent raids at his club in an attempt to jail him for something . In 1974, Fela’s communal home “The Kalakuta Republic” was raided for the first time and he was arrested for the possession of marijuana. In an attempt to find grounds for an arrest, the authorities tried to plant the marijuana on his person, but Fela swallowed it. He was held at Alagbon prison for 3days and was later released due to lack of evidence because the prisoners Fela was held withswapped their feaces with his, so he wouldn’t be pegged for the crime. Fela sang about his stint in the prison and a year later, he changed his last name from “Ransome-Kuti” to “Anikulapo-Kuti”, Anikulapo meaning “the one who carries death in his pouch”. The year that followed saw Fela become more involved in the political scene, where he created the “movement of the people” political party. In 1977, a thousand soldiers barged into Kalukuta Republic and committed a brutal assault on its residents. It was during this attack that Fela’s mother fell out the window. She died of complications from the fall a few years later. When the public shamed the women living in compound because they were unmarried and it was absurd for unmarried women to live among men, especially in a communal space, Fela married all the 27 women in a traditional Yoruba wedding on the same day in Lagos and divorced them later on.
In 1979, Fela attempted to run for presidency, but his political party got banned. In 1980, Fela returned to the music scene and changed the name of the group from “Afrika 70” to “Egypt 80”.They toured Europe in ‘81 and by ‘82 and then they fall into a slump due to economic recession in Nigeria at the time. The years that followed saw Fela’s brief incarceration and legal battle with the Nigerian government over the 1977 attack on the Kalakuta Republic where he demanded compensation. Fela never won the case. Fela and the Egypt 80 spent the next few years performing at the Afrika Shrine and doing international tours. In 1992, Fela released the underground systems, the final album of the newly recorded studio material. This was the last album released when he was alive. Although Fela and the Egypt 80 continued their performances at the shrine, Fela carried the torch for a new campaign, which was the right to smoke weed. As his high profile awareness continued, Fela and the shrine were repeatedly harassed by the Nigerian police. The years that followed saw Fela continuously fight for his right to smoke weed, frequent arrests and threats from the Nigerian police to close the shrine, threats and orders which Fela of course defied.
On the 2nd of August 1997, Nigeria mourned the death of the Icon, Olufela Anikulapo Kuti, who passed away from complications due to AIDS. Over a million people came to pay their respects to the legend and it took over seven hours to transfer the body from Tafawa Balewa square (TBS) to the Kalakuta Republic at Ikeja where he would be laid to final rest due to the large
crowd.
Fela is celebrated every year in the “Felabration Festival” which was first hosted by his first daughter Yeni Kuti in 1998, to celebrate Fela’s music, life and times and has continued till date. Fela’s legacy lives on in the very heart of Nigerian music and is an inspiration to the younger generations.