LIFE AND STYLES OF THE LEGENDARY MUSIC ICON "FELA KUTI"

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*FELA ANIKULAPO KUTI* 
Born on the 15th October, 1938 and died 2nd August 1997 @the age of 58. Fela was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist,musician, composer,pioneer of the Afrobeat music genre, human rights activist and political moverick.
He has been called "superstar, singer, musician, panafricanist,polygamist, mystic, legend".
Fela was born into an upper middle class family. His mother, Funmilayo Ransome Kuti was a feminist activist in the anti-colonial movement, his father Rev.Isreal Oludotun Ransome Kuti, an Anglican minister and school principal. Fela is the first cousin to the Nigerian writer and novel laureate Wole Soyinka.
He attended Abeokuta grammar school, later he was sent to London in 1958 to study medicine but decided to study music. He formed the band *KOOLA LOBITOS,* playing a fusion of jazz and highlife.
In 1960, Fela married his first wife, Remilekun Taylor with whom he had three children (Femi, Yeni and Sola). After Fela and his band returned to Nigeria, the band of Koola Lobitos was named the *AFRIKA'70* , as lyrical themes changed from love to social issues. He then formed the *KALAKUTA* republic; a commune, a recording studio, and a home for many people connected to the band that he later declared independent from the Nigerian state.
Fela set up a nightclub in the empire hotel, first named the Afro-spot and then the Afrika shrine,where he both performed regularly and officiated at personalised Yoruba traditional ceremonies in honour of his nation's ancestral faith. He also changed his name to *Anikulapo* {meaning "he who carries death in his pouch"}with the interpretation "I will be the master of my own destiny and will decide when it is time for death to take me".
      Fela's music was popular among the Nigerian public and Africans in general. He then made the decision to sing in pidgin English, so that his music career could be enjoyed by individuals all over Africa.
     In 1977, Fela and the Afrika'70 released the album *ZOMBIE* , a scathing attack on Nigerian soldiers using the zombie metaphor to describe the method of the Nigerian military. The album was a smash hit and infuriated the government, setting a vicious attack against the kalaluta republic; Fela was severely beaten and his elderly mother was thrown from a window, causing fatal injuries. The kalakuta republic was burned and Fela's studio, instruments, and master tapes were destroyed. Fela 's response to the attack was to deliver his mother's coffin to the Dodan Barracks in Lagos, Gen.Olusegun Obasanjo's residence, and to write two songs; *"coffin for Head of State"* and *"Unknown soldiers"* referencing the official inquiry that claimed the commune has been destroyed by unknown soldiers.
In 1978 Fela married 27 women, many of whom were his dancers, composers and singers. Later, he was to adopt a rotation system of keeping only 12 simultaneous wives. The year was also marked by two notorious concerts, the first in Accra-Ghana in which riots broke out during the song *"ZOMBIE"* , which led to Fela being banned from entering Ghana. The second was at the Berlin Jazz festival after which most of Fela's musicians deserted him, due to rumours that Fela was planning to use the entire proceeds to fund his presidential campaign. Despite the massive seatback, Fela was determined to come back. Fela continued to record albums and tour the country. He further infuriated the political establishment by dropping the names of ITT corporation-vice president Moshood Abiola and then Gen.Olusegun Obasanjo at the end of a hot-selling 25mind political screed entitled *"I.T.T (international thief thief)".*
     In 1984, Muhammad Buhari's government, of which Kuti was a vocal opponent, jailed him on a charge of currency smuggling which Amnesty International and others denounced him a prisoner of conscience, and his case was taken up other human rights groups. After 20 months, he was released from prison by Gen.Ibrahim Babangida. On his release he divorced his 12 remaining wives, saying that "marriage brings jealousy and selfishness".
In 1989, Fela and Egypt'80 released the anti-apartheid Beast of No Nation that depicts on its cover US president Ronald Reagan, UK prime minister Margeret Thatcher and south African state president Pieter Willem Botha, that tittle of the composition, as Barrett notes, having evolved out of a statement by Botha; "This uprising will bring out the beast in us. "
 Fela's album output slaved in the 1990s and eventually he stopped releasing albums altogether. In 1993, he and four members of the Afrika'70 organisation were arrested for murder.
      Fela died on the 2nd of August 1997. Rumours were spread that he suffered from an illness which he was refusing treatment. Kuti was honoured with a lying-in-state glass coffin for full public viewing. More than one million people attended Fela's funeral at the site of the old shrine compound. The New Africa shrine has opened since Fela's death in different sections of Lagos under the supervision of his son Femi.

 *MUSIC*
The musical style of Fela is called Afrobeat, a style he largely created,which is a complex fusion of Jazz,Funk,Ghanaian/Nigerian highlife,psychedelic Rick and traditional West African chants and rhythms.
Afrobeat is characterizes by a fairly large band with many instruments, vocals and a musical structure featuring Jazzy,funky horn sections.
Fela's band was notable for featuring two *BARITONE SAXOPHONES* , where as most groups were using only one of this instrument.
Fela's songs were also very long at least 10-15mins in length, and many reached 20 or even 30mins, while some unreleased tracks would last up to 45mins when performed live. This was one of many reasons that his music never reached a substantial degree of popularity outside Africa. Fela was known for his showmanship and his concerts were often quite outlandish and wild. He referred to his stage act as the "underground"spiritual game.



 *ACTIVISM*
Fela Kuti was a political gaint in Africa from the 70s until his death. Kuti critized the corruption of Nigerian government officials and the mistreatment of Nigerian citizens.
Kuti was outspoken; his songs spoke his inner thoughts. His rise in popularity throughout the 1970s sidballed a change in the relation between music as an act form and Nigerian socio-political discourse.
     Fela Kuti is remembered as an influential icon who was brave enough to boldly voice his opinions on matters that affected the nation through his music. An annual festival *"FELABRATION"* is held each year to celebrate the life of this music legend and his birthday.