Music charting history Fela Kuti
My first blog post of the year and it’s all about the legend — Fela Kuti.
A few week’s ago I was in Paris, and while walking in Parc de la Villette I came across a Fela Kuti exhibition at Philharmonie de Paris. I have deep respect for Kuti’s music but I must admit, I know very little about his personal life and activism in Nigeria. This exhibition provided a generous introduction to Kuti’s activism (where it stemmed from and the direction of his agency), the pre and post-independence politics of Nigeria and the connections between global Black liberation discourses.
Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti aka Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, grew up in the Yoruba region of Abeokuta, close to Eko (also known as Lagos) (Philharmonie de Paris, 2023). After studying trumpet, piano and composition in London, Kuti returned to Eko and established his band, Fela Ransome-Kuti and His Koola Lobitos in 1963. With their sound influenced by Ghanaian highlife, the presence of jazz arrangements could also be heard. Kuti’s trip to America (1969) introduced him to more jazz legends and the growing Black liberation thought, which played a role in the development of Afrobeat.
Ironically, during this same trip, Kuti was asked and expected to play “African music”. Especially at a time when expansive thinking was occurring to debunk assumptions about aspects of Blackness. How could the varied musical genres of an entire continent be drilled down into such a statement? Comments such as these really make me question the underlying meaning of this stance. And the presence of stereotypical expectations on how an artist should be or what their practice should focus on, based on aspects of their identity. The exhibition label explains this notion as “this request was tinged with exoticism nevertheless sparked a deep artistic reflection for Fela” (Philharmonie de Paris, 2023). For me, this is not enough of an explanation about the problematic nature of that statement. However, Fela’s internal inquiry off the back of these assumptions of what “African music” was, led him to look inwards towards the musical traditions of his Yoruba heritage. The reorganisation and placement of the “Yoruba instruments families” resulted in Kuti pioneering the genre of ‘Afrobeat’ — which differs from the contemporary umbrella sound of Afrobeats (Philharmonie de Paris, 2023).
Kuti’s poignant political commentary was not only present within his lyrics. Kuti made use of advertising space in prominent Nigerian newspapers — The Punch and The Daily Times — to critique the political landscape in Nigeria and advertise upcoming events. These short and snappy messages written in Pidgin English proved to be an effective way to propel political provocations about Nigerian society to a wider audience.
From this exhibition, I also learnt about the political influence of Funmilayo Anikulapo-Kuti — an activist who organised with other women who resisted taxation and called for greater political representation of women. It was so interesting noting how inspirational activism can be and flow between familial links, as demonstrated by Funmilayo and Fela. And how inspiration can flow in multiple ways, as Funmilayo dropped Randsome from her name, just like Fela, in an act of defying the imposition of a colonial name.
Do check out the following resources if you want to know more about the formidable activism of Funmilayo: Africa 2.0 Magazine, this Al Jazeera article written by Tayo Agunbiade and this UNESCO bio.
Moving forward, I’ll be listening more closely to Fela’s lyrics…
