THE
BIOGRAPHY OF FELA – KUTI
Fela
was born Olufela Oludotun Ransome Kuti in Abeokuta, Ogun state on 15 October
1938, to a middle class family. His mother, Funmilayo Ransome Kuti was a famous
front line activist in the anti- colonial movement and his father, reverend
Israel Oludotun Ransome- Kuti, a protestant minister and a school principal,
was the first president of the Nigerian union of teachers. 
His
musical talents and radical nature manifested early, so it was no surprise that
he went to London in 1958 to study music at the trinity college of music. While
there he formed the band Koola Lobito’s, playing a style of music that was a
fusion of Jazz with West African highlife. In 1963, Fela moved back to Nigeria,
reformed Koola Lobito’s and trained as a radio producer for the Nigerian
broadcasting corporation.
In
1969, Fela took the band to the united states, while there Fela discovered the
black power movement through Sandra smith (now isodore) a partisan of the black
panther party which would heavily influence his music and political views,
indeed Fela experience a political awakening that later reflected in a total
transformation of his world view his music and the place of Africa and the
black man in history.
His
early years and his mother political activism had exposed him to some degree to
the fight for political independence from colonialism, and especially memorable
for the young Fela was being introduced by his mother to the late Kwame Nkrumah.
Nkrumah was the guiding light of Ghana’s
independence and the leading advocate for pan- Africanism and the Organization of
African Unity (O.A.U).
If
this early exposure could be said to introduce Fela to the politics, his nine
(9) month sojourn in Los Angeles completed his political education and gave
birth to the musical phenomenon and political maverick of African music
forever. In his own words “for the first time I heard things I had never heard
before about Africa”. Fela told friends he learnt more about African in Los
Angeles than he had learnt in Lagos and insisted that the whole atmosphere of
black revolution changed me, my consciousness, my thinking, and my perception
of things).
I
was educated”
The
first acclaimed on afro-beat song “which gave birth to the genre was my lady
frustration part of a recording available today on the compilation named “the
69 los angeles sessions.
Fela
and his band renamed Nigeria 70, returned to Nigeria. He the armed the Kalakuta
republic a commune , a recording studio, and home for many connected to the
band that he later declared independent from the Nigerian state.
Fela
music became very popular among the Nigerian public and Africans general.
Infact, he made the decision to sing in pidgin English so that his music could
be enjoyed by individuals all over African where local languages spoken are
very diverse and numerous. As popular as fela’s music had become in Nigeria and
elsewhere. It was very unpopular with the ruling government and raids on Kalakuta
Republic where frequent.
In
1977, Fela and the Africa ‘70’ released the hit album zombie, scathing attack
on Nigerian soldiers using the zombie metaphor describe the method of the
Nigerian military. The album was a smash with the people and infuriated the
government, setting off a vicious attack against the Kalakuta republic, during
which one thousand soldiers attacked the commune. Fela was severely beaten, and
his elderly mother was thrown from a window, casting fatal injuries. The Kalakuta
republic was burned, and Fela’s studio, instruments and master tapes were
destroyed, he claimed that he would have been killed if it were not for the
intervention of a commanding officer as he was being beaten. Fela’s response to
the attack was to deliver his mother’s coffin to the main army barrack in Lagos
and write two songs, “coffin for head of state” and “unknown soldier”
referencing official injury that claimed the commune had been destroyed by Unknown
Soldier. Fela and his band then took residence in crossroads hotel as the
shrine had been destroyed along with his commune. In 1978, Fela married 27
women, many of whom were his dancers, composers and singers to mark the
anniversary of the attack on the Kalakuta republic. The year also marked by two
notorious concerts, the first in Accra in which riot broke out during the song
“zombie” which led to Fela being banned from entering Ghana. The second was at Berlin
Jazz festival, after which he had a lot of his band members desert him due to
various issues.
Despite
the massive setbacks, Fela was determined to come back. He formed his own
political party, which he called movement of the people. In 1979, he put
himself forward for president in Nigeria’s first elections for more than a
decade but his candidature was refused. At this time, Fela created a new band called
Egypt ‘80’ and continued to record albums and tour the country. He further infuriated
the political establishment by dropping the names of ITT Vice president Moshood
Abiola and then general Olusegun Obasanjo at the end of a hot selling 25 minute
political polemic titled I.T.T (international thief-thief) in 1984, he was
again attacked by the military government, who jailed him on a dubious charge
of currency smuggling. His case was taken up by several human right group and
after 20 months, he was released from prison. He continued to release albums
with Egypt “80” made a number of successful tour of United State of America and
Europe and his album output slowed down in the 1990’s.
He
died on 2nd August 1997, more than a million people ironically
including from the armed forces and police attended his funeral in Lagos. His
musical career was matchless and prolific with over 70 albums and over 200
songs.
source: FELABRATION 2012 BROCHURE: THE MAN FELA, PICTURES: KALAKUTA MUSEUM,
