ANB-BIA SUPPLEMENT - ISSUE/EDITION Nr 331 - 01/10/1997

ANB-BIA SUPPLEMENT

ISSUE/EDITION Nr 331 - 01/10/1997

CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE


Nigeria


Death of a Nigerian music genius and legend

by Taye Babaleye, Nigeria, August 1997

THEME = PERSONALITIES


INTRODUCTION

Music lovers from all walks of life trooped out in their thousands on 12 August 1997,
to pay their last respects to Nigeria's greatest and most talented musician,
the late Afrobeat king, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti,
whose remains were laid to rest in his tomb at his Gbemisola residence, Ikeja, Lagos.


Fela Anikulapo-Kuti will be remembered for many things. During his life time, he was an activist, composer, a philosopher, a non- conformist, a crusader, a pan-Africanist, a social reformer, a philanthropist, a music maestro and a traditionalist.

Fela, who died of a heart attack on 2 August 1997, suffered complications from AIDS. He was born into a Christian family on 15 October 1936. His father, Israel Ransome-Kuti, was a minister in the Church, and his mother, Olufunmilayo Ransome, was a political activist.

Early days


From his early days, Fela showed that independent streak which was to characterise his whole life. At school, he founded a student association which usually ganged up against the school authorities, to deliberately break the rules and regulations of the school. Close associates say Fela did this to show the hypocritical life-style of some of the teachers who would come late to class and yet punish the pupils for arriving late in school.

Eventually, Fela was sent to England to read medicine, but completely disobeying his father, he changed course and studied classical music instead.

Fela's career


Although in the years to come, Fela came to be hated by many Nigeria government authorities, one thing they could not deny was the fact he was a talented artiste and a great musicologist. He wrote his own music which was a blend of jazz and highlife. He christened it "Afrobeat". As an artiste, Fela specialized in the saxophone and piano but there was hardly any instrument that he could not handle with astounding mastery.

Fela arrived home from Europe in the early 1960s and took the Nigerian music scene by storm. Before his death, he had over 100 long-playing recordings to his credit.

A message in music


On his arrival in Nigeria, Fela worked for about one year with the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. When he resigned, he founded his musical band, Fela Ransome-Kuti and his Kola Lobitos. At that time, Fela used to write and sing mainly about nature.

By the early 1970s, after his musical tour of the USA, meeting fellow musicians and black leaders, Fela embraced the concept of Pan-Africanism. He renamed his band "Africa 70". After another trip to Egypt in the early 1980s, he again renamed his band - Egypt 80 - to further emphasize black African civilization which started in early Egypt.

During the 1970s, some of Fela's most popular hits reflected human rights abuses, especially among Nigeria's police authorities. This criticism of the authorities was so much, that he renamed his personal residence "Kalakuta Republic". He built a wall around his compound, laced the top of the wall with barbed wire and had security men guarding his "republic". He maintained a completely non-conformist life, going around in hot pants and smoking Indian hemp in public.

Fela's public criticisms became increasingly focused on specific issues - what he considered to be official hypocrisy and the betrayal of national potential.

Fela: The Philanthropist


During his lifetime, Fela became a legend. He was rich, having made a fortune from his music but he spent the money taking care of the lowly in society. His residence, "Kalakuta Republic", was a beehive of activity. He accommodated hundreds of boys and girls whose parents and society in general had rejected. He trained them in the art of music and they eventually joined his band.

Fela and the authorities


On 18 February 1977, his first Kalakuta Republic was burnt down by the police. His mother, Mrs Olufunmilayo Ransome-Kuti was so brutalized that she died from injuries sustained during the attack. His younger brother, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, a medical practitioner and human rights activist (now serving a 15 year jail term on charges of coup plotting against Nigeria's present military government), was beaten mercilessly.

Fela was arrested on many occasions for being in possession of Indian hemp (Marijuana). On his arrival from a musical tour in Europe, he was also arrested, detained and jailed for 15 years, for being in possession of foreign currency. That was 1987. He spent 17 months in prison before he was reprieved.

Fela was a true Pan-Africanist who believed fiercely in the culture and heritage of the black man, and who consistently berated the perfidy of white imperialists. Fela's ultimate legacy will be the lasting imprint he leaves on Nigeria's sociopolitical history. His passing is a void that will be hard to fill. The world has lost one of its greatest performers, and Nigeria, one of its greatest prophets.


END

CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE


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