Fela Anikulapo-Kuti

An astute dissident activist, political force, and iconoclast, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (b. 1938–d. 1997), popularly called Fela, was a legendary and innovative composer, arranger, bandleader, Pan-Africanist, and the father of the genre known as Afrobeat. He used his music as a weapon against injustice and for derision and ridicule of politicians and politics. He was born Olúfelá Olúségun Olúdòtun Ransome-Kuti, on 15 October 1938, in Abeokuta, the present-day capital of Ogun State in Nigeria (then a British colony), into an upper-middle-class family. He later replaced Ransome-Kuti with Anikulapo-Kuti, Aníkúlápó meaning “the one who holds death in their pouch.” His father, Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, was an Anglican clergyman and school principal, and his mother, Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (FRK) was a nationalist feminist. She was Fela’s primary ideological influence. Fela’s musical seeds were sown by his father, who was an accomplished composer. Fela furthered his artistic exploration with the Cool Cats, Victor Olaiya’s highlife band. He later studied music at the Trinity College of Music, London, in 1958, where his primary instrument was the trumpet. He formed a highlife and jazz fusion band, Highlife Rakers (later Koola Lobitos). Upon completing his studies, he moved to Nigeria in 1963, then a recently independent country, to work as a radio producer for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. Fela embarked on new musical explorations and experiments with Koola Lobitos and later named his music Afrobeat. In 1969, Fela traveled to the United States with his band, where they spent ten months in Los Angeles, and Fela was exposed to the works and philosophy of black leaders like Malcolm X. During this time, his mother’s influence blossomed, and his Pan-African ideology began to manifest. Upon returning to Nigeria, his emerging political consciousness drew inspiration from racial discrimination in the United States and colonial oppression in Africa. His lyrical themes shifted to addressing social issues. Name changes further marked his promising Pan-African consciousness. He rechristened his band Fela Ransome-Kuti and Nigeria 70, and later to Fela Ransome-Kuti and Afrika ’70, and Egypt ’80. Fela grew into a full-blown dissident and antagonist, confronting and lambasting the Nigerian military government and politicians. With over two hundred court appearances, he lived on the edge and suffered numerous incarcerations and physical assaults. His Pan-African messages were aimed at liberating Africans from colonial shackles. His music became a voice for the unheard and disenfranchised, and the defender of African society.