It’s safe to say Fela developed into a fully-fledged protest singer. In Kalakuta Notes, John Collins observes that “
In his songs [Fela] went much further than the usual round-up of protest singers such as Bob Dylan, James Brown or Bob Marley. Fela's songs not only protested against various forms of injustice but often fiercely attacked specific agencies and members of the Nigerian government.” As the ‘70s progressed, Fela Kuti came up against more and more backlash from his own government in Nigeria. He had established a safe-haven in the form of a commune, right in the heart of a working-class suburb of Lagos where he and his entourage lived peacefully. He called this compound
Kalakuta Republic, named after a prison called “Calcutta” in which he was once detained. In 1977 Fela released his hit song
Zombie about the police presence on the streets, who at the time were prone to thoughtlessly beating the public. Almost as a direct response to
Zombie, Kalakuta was tear-gassed and cleared out by a thousand soldiers in a 15-hour raid. In the process the men were beaten, the women were beaten and raped, and Fela’s own mother
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, a famous educator and activist, was thrown from a window and killed. Fela was crushed, but in no way did this slow him down, in fact quite the opposite. He became more and more incentivised in his political action.
Fela would never turn a blind eye to corruption or accept a lack of control over his own life. Through music he rebelled, over and over again, forcefully yet peacefully. Artists like Fela are few and far between, those who have the immense talent for creating but also see beyond melodies and structures to the heart of music itself, using it’s power to bring people together and create change, or at the very least, raise awareness. His work at Abbey Road Studios helped bring Afrobeat to the world and eventually to my ears, for which I’m immensely grateful. By his inspiration, I now see music as an important tool in incorporating alternate views into a society. It has the potential, as it always has, to influence where we go from here. Fela Anikulapo Kuti is a prime example that if we pay attention and recount an injustice clearly, we can isolate broken or abused systems and help to drive change forward. In his own words, “
Music is the weapon of the future.”
Thank you to Cameron for providing us with this detailed account. And in case you missed it, producer and former Abbey Road engineer, Jeff Jarratt, also
shares his account of the recording sessions at Abbey Road.