Fela Kuti

Fela Kuti’s AfroBeat; or the Pan-African Revolution Through Music.

                                  By Issa Nyaphaga

Fela Kuti, is known in Africa as Fela Anikulapo Kuti. His “middle name” ANIKULAPO in Yoruba means “the one who has death in his pocket.” For the mainstream media and the public in the West he is simply Fela. Mr. Kuti has gone through many transformations his struggle for socio-political justice for Africans. Surely he has earned the title “The Black President of the Kalakuta Republic.” Fela Kuti is undeniably recognized as an emblematic figure standing against political oppression, the pioneer of revolutionary genre of music called “AfroBeat” that he created to support his fight for social justice. Mr. Kuti was a composer, a multi-instrumentalist musician and a performer. As a human rights activist and a political maverick, Mr. Anikulapo was arrested and beaten by the dictatorial regimes that ruled Nigeria at the time. In 2008, a theatrical production debuted portraying Fela Kuti’s life entitled simply “Fela”. It was the result of a collaboration between the AfroBeat band, Antibalas, and Tony Award-winner Bill T. Jones. The show was a major success on Broadway playing to sold out audiences for three good years. It was an historical breakthrough for an African artist in Western show biz.

Fela Kuti was born on October 15, 1938 in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. In the late 50s, he was sent to London to study medicine and decided to study classical music instead. Fela started with the trumpet but he did not stop there. He explored other music instruments, such as piano, guitar, saxophone, drum and voice, his ancestral medium. As a student in London, Fela struggled to sustain his studies and faced discrimination from British society. While looking for a room to rent, he would meet signs: “No blacks, no dogs!”, Kuti shared later. His country, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, was one of the ex-colonies the British Empire and was “Independent” in 1960, but the power belongs to an oligarchy, the legacy of colonialism. That period of Fela’s life shaped his revolutionary thinking toward the Establishment. Historically this was the turning point when Fela became the voice of the voiceless; his music was composed and performed to demand justice, basic rights, and Power to the People.

In 1963, Fela moved back to Nigeria to form Koola Lobitos, his first music band and collaborated with many other musicians who performed at the Shrine, his nightclub cabaret in the heart of (the neighborhood he independently proclaimed “Kalakuta Republic”) in the city of Lagos. In 1967, he traveled Ghana for residency in need of new musical horizons. That was where Fela first created the pioneering music concept baptized; AfroBeat.

Why does Mr. Kuti’s music claims “Black Power” in such a “mono-ethnic” society like in Nigeria where the last English colonist left 30 years ago? Because in the minds the African intellectuals, Colonization is not only associated to the color of a skin or being only from a European origin; it is a mentality, an attitude toward the so-called “Indigenous” and the awkward behavior of a handful of rulers who sat on Nigeria’s 130 millions people’ wealth. That is the social injustice, corruption, nepotism and grid issues. Nigeria has a rich soil but poor people. Anikolapo-Kuti always denounces in his musical work and speeches. Beyond the successful message that resonates the aspirations of the mass of underserved populations, AfroBeat’s rhythm is indeed seductive to the victims of the neo-colonialism the author is pointing out. This is what Fela aims to overcome with his Afrobeat; he wants power returned to the people as it was before colonialism; Black Power Back to the People.

The king of AfroBeat did not become a popular and an inspiring leader by historical mistake; he came from generations of political opposition against the Establishment in his country. His mother Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was political activist and a leader of the feminist movement in Nigeria. His father Oludotun Ransome-Kuti was a clergyman and the leader the Nigerian Teachers’ Union. The young Fela grew up being fed with all the ingredients to become the maverick who would carry higher the torch of social justice. In addition, looking at Fela’s background, the “black president” shares a close “cousinery” with the legendary writer, and Nobel Prize winner, Wole Soyinka. Soyinka is the first ever African to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1984 with the book “The Lion and the Jewel”.

In the heart of the Black Panther movement, Fela traveled on a tour with his band to the U.S. and spent almost a year in Los Angeles. While in the United States, Fela Kuti discovered the struggle of Black activists and their slogan “All Power to the People” resonated to the man who could not wait to fight neo-colonialism, and his U.S. experience strongly influenced the lyrics in his music. After he returned to Nigeria, Anikolapo changed the name of the band to Nigeria ’70, but kept the concept of AfroBeat, which remains indeed one of the most trans-cultural sounds today.

Fela Ransome Anikolapo Kuti died on August 3, 1997 in Lagos. Over one million people attended his funeral service in Kalakuta Republic where he lived the most gorgeous moments of his life.
One critic has confessed that, “you just don’t describe his music; AfroBeat is an indescribable genre of music, you gotta live it.” But Wikipedia has tried the exercise, and here it’s, with the final touch about the mythical drummer Tony Allen:
“The musical style of Felá is called AfroBeat style he largely created, which is a complex fusion ofJazz, Funk, Ghanaian/Nigerian High-life, psychedelic rock, and traditional West African chants and rhythms. Afrobeat also borrows heavily from the native “tinker pan” African-style percussion that Kuti acquired while studying in Ghana with Hugh Massekela, under the uncanny Hedzoleh Soundz. The importance of the input of Tony Allen (Fela’s drummer of twenty years) in the creation of Afrobeat cannot be overstated. Fela once famously stated that “without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat”.

Issa N. Nyaphaga
Artist, Cartoonist & Human Rights Activist
Professor of Contemporary African Art, Social Justice & Cultural Diversity
Santa Fe, New Mexico – USA – Oct. 14, 2015.
www.hitip.org

Issa Nyaphaga

About Issa Nyaphaga’s Biography. Issa Nyaphaga was born in Douala, Cameroon (central Africa) in 1967 and grew up in the small village of the Tikar tribe, called Nditam, in the very heart of Cameroon’’s equatorial forest. The Tikar are primarily farmers and as a child of the fields, Issa spent his time in close contact with earth and nature. Like other Tikar children, Issa was introduced to traditional painting in his early childhood. His father is an herbalist and a calligrapher, and Issa grew up next to shaman pygmy women deep in the region of “Mbam and Kim” in Cameroon. As a child, Issa didn’t like his last name Nyaphaga. “My son, you’ll only be successful in life if you like your name,” his mother said. He was raised in a Muslim family and went to a French school- the only one in the village- where the Bible was the main teaching subject. After school, in the evening, he studied the Koran before calling upon ancestral spirits during Animist ceremonies. “Today, my thought is close to Buddhism. I wake up every morning with a different feeling.” As a young artist he began to feel restless. “I needed to do more, get involved in something significant and crazy,” says Issa. After high school, Issa started working as a political cartoonist, illustrator and reporter in a weekly satirical newspaper, Le Messager Popoli. His opposition to the political regime in Cameroon led him to several trips to jail in 1994. In 1996 he escaped from his country to seek asylum in France. There he began collaborating with the famous photographer Jacqueline Hyde, a former assistant to Man Ray, also known for her work with Botero, Zao Wou Ki (Nobel Prize in Literature), Nicolas de Stael and the two iconic North American painters Riopelle and Joan Mitchell. Issa has worked with many other photographers as well and has been the subject of several documentaries focusing on his life and journey. And has illustrated and co-authored several books published in the United States and France. Issa has developed a unique painting technique, known as “Capillarism”, which uses human hair as a first layer on his canvases (paper, canvas, wood and hardboard) prior to applying color. He also experiments with different textures such as sand, mud, feathers, recycled material and leather. He is said to be the “ragman of painting” because he rummages in garbage cans, picking up and collecting all kind of objects. He primarily works with salvaged objects. ““I turn disused objects away from their first use and give them a new birth”,” he says. Since 1999, Issa has taught his painting and drawing techniques in universities, cultural centers and Social institutions. His artwork has inspired the human spirit of thousands of people in dozens of countries. As an art educator, Issa engages in innovative art projects and he conducts the therapeutic workshops for at-risk and highly vulnerable communities, including children with disabilities, at-risk youth, immigrant families, teen suicide survivors, and child soldiers from Africa. Issa Nyaphaga is convinced that the power of art can save lives. He knows that art as a process of resilience did not only saved his life but also enabled him to transform his life. Issa’s artwork and teaching philosophy has inspired countless individuals to create limitless possibilities for themselves through their own creativity and freedom of expression. Issa was the first African to bring Anita Woodley, the first African American with Tikar DNA back to his small village in Cameroon: http://tikarcameroon.blogspot.com/ Issa divides his time between Cameroon, France, China and the United States where he shares his work with young artists. Issa also has been working on the development of a philosophical concept called “Urban Way,” in which he paints his body and stages live performances that include music. Issa travels worldwide performing the Urban Way at artists residency programs, museum exhibitions, biennials, and universities. He also partners with schools, cultural centers, community organizations, and foundations to share his artwork and raise awareness about the challenges that his community is facing. Several thousand people have viewed Issa’s artwork and have experienced the Urban Way. As a way of remaining in contact with his native country, Mr. Nyaphaga has founded Hope International for Tikar People (HITIP) www.hitip.org a non-profit, community-based organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for Tikar and Bedzan villagers and individuals with disabilities in the equatorial rain-forest of Cameroon. HITIP implements sustainable projects focusing on health, education, community organizing, and creating opportunities for villagers with disabilities. Every Summer, HITIP hosts volunteers from around the world to support the ongoing community-based projects in the marginalized villages. In partnership with the Rotary Foundation, Water For Social Peace a project created by HITIP, provided potable water to more than 20.000 people in 2012. Water for Social Peace received the Global Rotary Peace Award 2012 in Berlin, Germany. Since early 2011, Issa has been featured for “Radio Taboo”, a documentary project by Sophie Rousmaniere and Jay Minton. In 2013 Issa is returning to his small village Nditam in West Africa to build a community radio station to educate villagers about Public health, environmental issues, women’s issues and HIV infected people. Issa speaks seven languages and holds an MFA in French Literature. Mr. Nyaphaga teaches art, social justice and cultural diversity at the community college in Santa Fe New Mexico.