Remembering Fela, Weeping And Praying For Nigerian Rulers

In the early 70’s or thereabouts, a young man knew something was amiss in the land where one person is allowed to steal a horse while another must not look at a halter. The man opened his “basket” mouth and “talk and talk”. He sang and sang about the pervasive diseases in the land of his birth. The obsessive themes of his struggle centre on government brutality and insensitivity, injustice, human suffering, corruption and embezzlement. He observed a touch of insanity in the system, a sense of lugubrious drollery everywhere that would not dissipate sooner.

And through a weapon of talent, he warned us in his satirical style about impending doom that likely to engulf his land. He was sure that unless we adopt a simple precept – justice and accountability – his land would be heading toward a tempestuous peril. He was regarded as a prophet of doom, though his saxophone was not a threat to his land, unlike the rumblings of their guns tucked in their tummies and cheeks. Nevertheless, successive governments treated him in a symbolic manner Jesus Christ and Prophet The Great Prophet were persecuted – simply because of his cocksure attitude.

And so they thought he was mad. Fela Ransome-Kuti (a name he would soon change to more African-like: Fela Anikulapo-Kuti) was born on October 15, 1938 in a country that has potential being among the greatest on earth, but for certain opportunists who have been at the helm of affairs, and audaciously ruined our land. Fela was from Abeokuta , a Yoruba town about 50 miles north of Lagos known as haven for freed slaves. He was born like any other child but Fela would soon show the difference. He would be Abami Eda (extraordinary creature). He would be a priest – of music; of art and of spirituality. He would be a nonconformist, an iconoclast who will transform a society by living a life meant only for the strong mind.

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was a brilliant, precocious young man of any subject but chose to speak a bastardized form of English known as Pidgin English. He chose to dress differently and liked to ridicule high culture and established norm of the society. For example, by marrying 27 wives in one day. Also, at a time when the Mercedes Benz was a status symbol, Fela in his usual eccentric manner, was reported to have used it to transport vegetables and firewood. He was the son of a distinguished Anglican priest and educator, but chose traditional African religion and medicine. His mother was an activist involved in Nigeria ’s quest for independence in 1960.

Young Fela worked briefly for the government before he persuaded his parents to send him to England for further studies. He was expected to study medicine, but the inclination in young Fela directed him toward something more fundamental and profound. Something practical to his existence: Music. Music was his message and his message was through music. Instead of stethoscope, he used saxophone to penetrate the heart of darkness and disguise in Nigerian oligarchy. For instance, Fela talked about [government magic that dabaru (prevaricate) everything; that turns electric to candle; that turns green to white; wey steal money for FESTAC; soldiers that flog civilians for street; government that kills its students; how country go dey make money and people no go see the money] etc.

He formed his band in England , and upon returning to Nigeria in 1963, began playing Jazz with little success. The really meaningful period of his career, the period he built for himself a conscious, messianic image did not begin until 1969, according to Osofisan. It was during this time that his concept for the politically charged Afro-beat came together, after he had heard the Sierra Leonean singer Geraldo Pino. And after he had travelled to Ghana and America , where he encountered the ideas of Malcolm X and later developed a strong interest in politics and civil rights.

Returning to Nigeria for good in 1973, Afro-beat became a huge phenomenon, and by late 70’s Fela and his band – Afrika 70 – were stars throughout Africa . Between 1975 and 1977, the Africa 70 (which later became Egypt 80) recorded 17 albums, including Beasts Of No Nation. His top albums included Zombie, Army Arrangement, Suffering and Smiling, Vagabond in Power and the classical No Agreement, which summed up his life struggle in such altruistic allure [I no go gree…make my brother hungry make I no talk…I no go gree…make my brother homeless make I no talk…]

As his popularity grew, Fela utilized his platform for anti-government agitation. He opened a nightclub called the Shrine or Kalakuta Republic in Ikeja, a Lagos suburb. And in 1977, after he had sung forcefully about civil liberties in what was becoming a military state, he got an “official” response. About one thousands soldiers burned his house to the ground and threw his mother out of the window. Fela and his entourage of wives and band members then went to the ruling junta’s headquarters and placed the coffin of his deceased mother on the step. He later said he wanted to demonstrate that the power of a dictatorial state was impotent compared to the power of the human spirit.

Overnight, Fela became known as much for his politics as for his music. After military rule ended in 1979, he formed his own party MOP (Movement Of the People) albeit jocular. There was nothing unequivocal about him and his style yet his party was not registered. However, there was no question about his undying radicalism for the improvement in the standard of living for every woman and man in his land. Fela shared a sense of being a minority repressed but not spiritually powerless from the political centre of ruling power and policy making. He was an enlightened minority who described Nigerian rulers as opportunist and “animals” wearing agbada (surplice) and suit.

In the early 80’s, he responded to the rise of conservatives like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher with the blunt Beasts Of No Nation. He posed fundamental questions that United Nations has not been able to answer up till today. Fela wanted to know what exactly [is] united in UN when nations seem to be at loggerheads! That time Iraq and Iran were at war; Lebanon and Israel were at each other’s throat; Britain and Argentina had just finished fighting over the Falkland Island , a mere piece of land; eastern and western Europe were also in conflict. Today, Fela’s question is much as relevant as when he posed it.

Meanwhile, he was becoming a thorn in the flesh of Nigerian government. He was arrested at Murtala The Great Prophet Airport in 1984 as he was preparing to leave for a US tour in what appeared to be politically motivated. He was charged for exporting foreign currency illegally by the Buhari/Idiagbon’s brutal regime. He had served 18 months of a five-year sentence when he was released by the cunning regime of master prevaricator, IBB. Upon his release, Fela in his usual manner said: “I no go say thank you to any government”. In March 1996, gunmen attacked Fela’s home where the drug squad held him, saying it hoped to reform his character and lured him away from marijuana, but they later released him. On that Fela said indignantly. “I have been smoking for 40 years. It helps my music. People know I smoke worldwide. It is not drug, it is grass”.

His sense of humour never waned. During one of his performances at the Shrine, Fela smoked marijuana heavily, which made him cough repeatedly. Seeing this, the audience quickly offered their sympathy in chorus, “sorry…sorry baba…sorry”. But after regaining his composure, Abami Eda retorted: “Na your papa you go sorry for…when Fela smoke igbo finish and cough, you go say well done baba”. He was known as well for his yabis (lampoon) both in his songs and on stage. The acclaimed winner of a “free and fair” election, Late MKO Abiola, did not escape the lethal of Fela’s criticism. In fact, he called Abiola a “thief” while categorizing the ITT for which Abiola served its interests in Nigeia as nothing more than “International Thief Thief”. That’s of course is simply a tip of Fela’s acerbic frankness.

Even the present Nigerian administrator, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, did not escape Fela’s peppery barb. If he were to be alive, it would have been impossible for Mr. President to go scot-free from his unpopular and arbitrary policies against the masses. Abami Eda would have used his instrument of existence to talk about the insensitivity of the ruling government over the increase of fuel prices. “The black president” would have opened his “basket” mouth and talked about the plight of Niger Delta people and other minorities. He would have alarmed the nation that governing in our land had become a relay race where one junta passes the baton to another.

Fela would have sung about the bandits in uniform disrupting the peace of his people. He would have talked about one mad dog that shot a commercial motorcyclist because the boy had brushed his car. Fela would have told us – eloquently – the reason why most Nigerians are being pessimistic about the way things are going in our land. Ah, Fela would have opened his [basket mouth and talk and talk]. He would have enlightened us more about Paris Club debt relief. Fela would have probably categorized the ruling Peoples Democratic Party as Peoples Deceiving People. But he has passed on.

If the actions of men are the best interpreter of their thoughts, then, Fela’s life and deeds surpassed ethnic and religious bellicose pronouncements, which are now the manipulative techniques being employed by the “owners of Nigeria” to deliberately warp our minds to cause chaos – and this for their own selfishness. In Fela we shall always find a point of view, which can hardly be defined, but it pervades his songs.

Before he departed on Saturday August 2, 1997 at the age of 58, Fela refused treatment – both western and Nigerian medical services on ground of principle. Not every man is a man. Fela was a man. Abacha and his like-minded coup plotters are not. I’m I getting a bit too melodramatic here? Surely I would rather escape our rulers’ meretricious captivation for the glorious melancholy in Fela’s songs. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, a leader in the avant-garde of Nigerian musicians, is dead all right but his legend lives on.

Great Musician

Abami Eda.

let the dead be and let the living live!

A gift from Africa to the World

Abami Omo!

Sun Re oooo

Fela was a Phenomenon, a legendary Legend!!

I will always remember my very first day at the Shrine, on the day he celebrated his 50th birthday there.

Respect!!! 2 d Abami Eda of Musik.

Each tym i listen to his rythms & lyrics, i go wild.

'Definitely, He is sitted on d throne wit Baba' (Almighty)

cebili:




Each time i listen to his rythms & lyrics, i go wild.

'Definitely, He is sitted on d throne wit Baba' (Almighty)

With due respect to Fela and his music, I think he was a real bad role model to the youths he taught how to smoke Indian hemp. His shows at African Shrine , as I heard, was a sexual orgy. His fans put a big wrap of Indain hemp in his coffin as a send off gift! NOW someone is comparing him with Jesus and the Great Prophet. Another fan is saying he is resting with BABA in heaven! Good luck to him but I am not a fan of Fela and had never own any of his records. He was a real bad influence to the youths despite his sermons.

Good music
Bad role model

@henrydan, fine eulogy. Presently I'm listening to one of baba's songs "na suegbe, na pako"
Fela simply is the greatest musician that ever from Africa.

Fela legacy is just beginning,just like christ,it took several centuries after his death for his message of emancipation to start sinking in.

Way after some of us commoners have gone,he is still going to be here.One of the greatest men that have ever walked this earth.

Anikulapo(death in his porch),he can't die,legends don't die.

oldie:

Good music
Bad role model

What do you know?

A legend and an icon

He has come and gone. Only God knows where he is now. I would say that he did more harm than good. A lot of people are useless/mad today because of the indian hemp smoked freely in his shrine. A number of people are also dead/HIV positive due to the kind of lifestyle he lived. I still have a copy of the Weekend Concord newspaper that carried a story on his life and time. He was a careless radical. Drug ruins/kills. Majek Fashek is a living example.

Fela was an excellent musician. Creativity and Otherwise;

He was not the Best role model for -18.
Are you?

The Abami Eda, maximum respect

There is none like, he's the bob marley of Africa.

Sleep tite Abami Eda and always remember to take your ganja dose

Fela never claimed to be your 'daddy prim and proper' role model. That was never his mission.  What he stood for was never ambiguous. Fight against Injustice, oppression and corruption in high places.  He sought for the empowerment of the downtrodden through his music.

A lyrics of one his songs that gives me goose pimples till today - Power Show

I open my eyes I see for my land
chorus - pooooower shooow oooo
everywhere you go everywhere you dey everybody wan do power show

You reach border
immigration know say visa dey
hin go bluff you
waste your time
change him pen
some dey comb them hair
them tidy them table
and them pull them chair
before hin go know say you dey there
if you no talk quick
hin go go for shit
hin go shit come back and you talk to am
then you surprise
when he shout for you
say you no go cross
you no go cross today
na that time them go start them power show oooo

go post office na the same
them go bluff you
waste your time
run you up and then run you down
them go tire your body and them tire your mind
them go say no change for fifty kobo
na that time them go start them power show oooooo

motor car owner sef
hin go take hin car push
hin car push labourer down for road
hin start to yab
foolish labourer
nonentity
hin no get money
look hin sandal e don tear finish
look hin trouser e don tear for yansh
look hin singlet e don dirty finish
look hin body e no baf this morning
look hin pocket e don dry finish
you go suffer for nothing
you go suffer for nothing
you no know me sha
i be general
for army office
i be officer
for police station
i be secretary
for government office
you foolish labourer
nonentity
you go suffer for nothing
na that time them go start them power show oooooo

power show na sad thing
na bad thing
power na to help your land
and to help your mates
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His lyrics are profound and inspiration simply awesome.

the greatest there was and there ever will be,
@dnative, no need to answer the critics, they are part of the people he talks about, all words and no action, can bet the critics can neva be the supposed role model in the face of adversity

quote:
"i no wan quench, i no wan die, i get one child, papa dey for house, mama dey for house, i get bright future"

=

In the music line, he is more than a legend,

HE IS THE BEST AFRICA HAS EVER HAD, THE BEST THERE IS, AND IN A LONG TIME THE BEST THERE WOULD BE.

Sorry to say, bad role model.

Abami 2 much ooooooooooooooooooo

Great Legend indeed,

3 gbosas for baba!!!!

Just like 2pac; Fela is still alive,
not a great fan, but I admire his sermons, which is evident till date.
legends don't fade away easily,

Fela is the only true Man who really understand Nigeria. I used the word ''is'' because he is still alive and his words and music are still there to explain what we are facing in Nigeria.

Go and listen to the track -

''Authority stealling''
''Suffering and smilling''

He is an outspoken man of wisdom.

@ purestboy
Gbosa Gbosa Gbosa

still a big fan of abami eda,
what he achieved with his music politically is more significant than the present rule of court.
period,

@ henryman,

You sure deserves an applause for the write up. Thanks

Fela was a legend of our time, a great man he was. Although, we failed to realise and appreciate him as we should when he was alive, But I am sure his gospel speaks for him now.

Nigeria is crying out loud and needs people like FELA who will stand by what they believe in, expose and rebuke corruption and not celebrate it. Let us all rise up and make an impact.

Africa as a continent dont cherish what they have until they loose it.


Fela is one of the greatest of all kind, I love his music, his personalty, his behaviour,his courage, i love everything about him,

I was very unfortunate because i never grew up to see fela or attend his live performances, but i still know that there is something all Nigerian, all African have lost.


Fela is a Great Man

Letz see what femi will do,