Today marks the 21st anniversary of the death of the music legend, Afrobeat creator, and human rights activist Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
Born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti in 1938 in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Fela Kuti grew to live a colourful, controversial, engaging and distinctive
The man who pioneered the genre, Afrobeat was more than a musician and in his time on earth, Fela Anikulapo Kuti changed not just the sound of the music but also the social consciousness of the people.
ALSO READ: 10 essential songs by Fela
playFela Kuti (Lemi Ghariokwu)
It has been over two decades since Fela Kuti passed away, reportedly of complications from HIV/AIDS on August 2, 1997, yet his legacy permeates through every phase of our lives.
He maintains a strong hold on the cultural fabrics of the music scene and a living memory for those he influenced and entertained during his almost 59 years journey on earth.
For some Fela was a god, upon whose shrine they gathered to worship; to his audience, he was music himself in human form, for others he was a father and a family man, but collectively, the Abami Eda was a man who gave his voice and life for the people.
21 years after, 'Fela Lives On' and here are 5 unforgettable moments from a handful of people who were fortunate enough to watch him play and were touched in ways profound and memorable.
1. Matthew Ohio recalls his first encounter with Fela
CEO of El Carnaval, organisers of the popular music event, Industry Nite, Matthew Ohio describes Fela as the greatest Nigerian musician of all time.
''Its Fela now, he says.
playFela (Discogs)
Detailing the first encounter he had, ''I was very young, in 1991, my sister was Miss Nigeria back then, there was a festival in Badagry, so they invited her and she brought me along.
It was the Badagry Black Music Festival, I was like 10 or 11, we were there all day and one thing was I remember seeing Ras Kimono, Charly Boy.
I just remember that the minute we heard that Fela had arrived, the whole atmosphere changed, I can't explain it, we just heard that he is backstage and everywhere just changed even before he got on stage.
And when he got on stage, everyone went wild.
Not only because of the music, just the sheer volume of music that Fela puts out, I don't think anybody has ever put out that amount of music, if you are talking about the artist who has affected a lot of lives through his activism, it is Fela, the only that has ever punched the Government, it is Fela.''
2. Donald Duke speaks on his relationship with Fela
Former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke in a recent interview on Loose Talk Podcastrecounts his relationship with the late enigma,
''He is quite a remarkable person, quite conflicted too... He was very dictatorial, he managed his establishment like a boot camp, but he was brilliant.
playFela (Discogs)
Once I was watching him at the shrine and the music was playing - He had incredible ears - everything was OK, but he detected a tune off. So the guy is playing the guitar, he goes there and he starts to tune the guitar as he is playing, then when he gets it right, he gives the guy a bad slap.
You go to the shrine, he starts about 12.30/1am and he is playing and five hours have gone, you think its maybe one or two hours, then you hear C.C.P, Custom Check Point, (humming a tune), you look up, its daybreak, and you think you have only spent an hour and a half. You are totally mesmerized, then they tell you ''short break'', which means its over.
The point is the man introduced an entirely new genre of music (Afrobeat), and it is being studied today in Universities across the world.''
3. Words from his former manager, Rikki Stein
Rikki Stein was Fela's manager for 15 years, the British music executive and CEO of Kalakuta Sunrise Limited Knitting Factory Records, handled Fela's businesses from 1983 till the music icon's death in 1997.
In an interview with Pulse, Stein details his first encounter with Fela Kuti in London, and how they were brought together via chance.
playFela and Rikki Stein (MusicInAfrica)
“I met Fela first in the back of a Mercedes van, on the M4 Motorway in the UK, lying in the heap of African dancers on our way back from a show. Somebody put on a cassette, and it was sorrow, tears and blood. I had never heard Fela before.”
“I went away and did some research, and I found out some more. Then I met somebody, who knew one of the people that were working with him when he was in London on tour...
“So I put together a proposal because I wanted Fela to join my board of advisers, and also to come to play at the festival... It was in the winter, and I had a hat, a coat and a scarf, and I knocked on the door, and he said ‘come in’.
“…The room was filled with pretty girls... And I sat down next to him, I gave him this proposal and he was leafing through the thing, and I was talking into his ear.
I can’t remember what I said, but I said something, he spun around and looked at me, and we both started laughing, and we just became friends in that instant.”
4. Paul Mccartney of The Beatle recalls his experience in Lagos
playFela and Paul Mccartney (OkayAfrica)
''The first thing that happened to me when I got to Lagos, I was accused of singing the black man's music and now coming to steal the black man's music, so I asked who this black man was and they said Fela...
Fela invited me to the Afrikan Shrine and I had this fantastic evening, It was a wild experience, and there was this one song he played, I remember he played 'Shakara Woman', but he also played this song (Why Black Man Dey Suffer), that is my favorite Fela song...
The atmosphere was very intense, when the music broke I ended up crying.''
5. Lemi Gharioku, the man behind the art covers
playArt cover for Fela's Beast of No Nation (Lemi Ghariokwu)
Lemi Ghariokwu designed 26 album covers for Femi Kuti, and he looks back on how he first met the Abami Eda in an interview with CNN.
"I did the portrait [a portrait of Fela] and lo and behold he took me to Fela just like that," says Ghariokwu, "When he saw the portrait, Fela said, 'wow, God damn it'.
It was the first time I heard these words. Fela loved the portrait so much and wrote me a cheque for N120, I used to earn N30 for my portrait work, but I rejected it. I said 'I don't want money, I give you the work from the bottom of my heart.
He was very surprised so he tore up the cheque, took a sheet of paper and wrote 'please admit bearer to any show free of charge, that was my ticket to Kalakuta; that was the beginning", he concludes.
21 years after, he still has death in his pouch and continues to live through his music.
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