Fela Kuti

Kuti met his first wife, Remilekun Taylor, in London. They married in 1961, when he was 23, and had three children: Yeni, Femi, and Sola, born in 1961, 1962 and 1963, respectively. The first two children were born in England, while Sola was born in Lagos, Nigeria. Femi was introduced on stage during one of his father’s European tours and has now become a musical legend in his own right. Kuti had at least five other children, one of whom, Seun Kuti, is also a well-known musician.

He was a proponent of polygamy, marrying 27 women at the same time in 1978. Although he later switched to a rotation system of keeping 12 wives simultaneously, he finally came to believe that marriage was an “imposition” and divorced all his wives. His attitude toward women (in his music and personal life) has been subjected to much scrutiny with allegations of misogyny leveled against him.

He died of AIDS complications in Lagos, on August 2, 1997. His funeral prompted three days of processions and a public service.

Fela Kuti was born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti (also known as Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, or simply Fela) on October 15, 1938, in Abeokuta, Nigeria. His mother, Funmilayo, was a feminist activist and an anti-colonialist who became the first woman to drive a car in Nigeria. His father, Israel Oludotun, was a minister in the Anglican church and the first president of the ‘Nigeria Union of Teachers.’ He had two brothers, Beko and Olikoye, both of whom later became well-known doctors, and a sister, Dolu. His cousin, Wole Soyinka, was a writer who became the first African to win the ‘Nobel Prize for Literature.’

After completing high school in Abeokuta, Kuti was briefly employed as a clerk at the ‘Federal Ministry of Commerce’ before being sent to London to study medicine. Once in London, he decided to switch to music, enrolling at the ‘Trinity College of Music.’

Kuti formed his first band, ‘Koola Lobitos,’ while in college. After moving back to Nigeria in 1963, he re-formed the band, trained as a radio producer, and worked with trumpeter Victor Olaiya.

He first came up with Afrobeat during a trip to Ghana in 1967. The trip was undertaken to help him think of a new musical direction.

In 1969, Kuti and his associates embarked on a 10-month trip of the US, where he met Sandra Izsadore, a ‘Black Panther’ activist who introduced him to the politics of Malcolm X and other ‘Black Power’ advocates. Kuti was fascinated, and later credited this experience as the catalyst for much of his activism. During this period, he also renamed his band ‘Nigeria ‘70.’ After running into trouble with the US immigration authorities, Kuti returned to Nigeria, where he again changed the band name to ‘Afrika ‘70.’

After this trip, the band began to focus more on socio-political issues, instead of exclusively romantic concerns. In 1974, Kuti built a fence around his house and created a sovereign commune, the ‘Kalakuta Republic.’ This location housed a recording studio.

Around the same time, he also set up a nightclub where he performed his music and conducted traditional Yoruba ceremonies, in his attempts to return to Nigeria’s roots.

His album ‘Zombie’ (1977) remains a classic, all the more powerful for the disproportionate state response it solicited.

The singles ‘Coffin for Head of State’ and ‘Unknown Soldier’ were written in response to his mother’s death at the hands of the military.

He attacked the ‘ITT Corporation’ and the military again with his iconic single ‘I.T.T. (International Thief Thief).’

The 1989 album ‘Beasts of No Nation’ was a response to remarks by the erstwhile South African president and has now become a pan-African political landmark.