FELA ANIKULAPO-KUTI

1961 FELA AND KOOLA LOBITOS
FELA AT THE BALCONY OF GBEMISOLA (KK) DODO STANDING BESIDE

FELA AND A BUNCH OF FANS OUTSIDE CLUB CLASS IKEJA DECEMBER '88.

THE POSTURE OF A LEGEND

FELA LIVE STAGE SHOW

OLD SHRINE SHOWS

FELA AND HIS WIVES

FELAISM - A WAY OF LIFE IN KALAKUTA

LIVE ON STAGE ON TOUR

FELA IN THE YEAR 1989

THE WEIRD ONE - ABAMI EDA

FELA AND FAMILY

FELA AND MUM

FELA IN HIS YOUNGER DAYS

FELA'S MOTHER OLUFUNMILAYO RANSOME KUTI

VICTORIOUS IN COURT

YABIS TIME

FELA ON SAX

FELA AND LAWYER TUNJI BRAITHWAITHE

Birth name
Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti Also known as Fela Anikulapo Kuti Born October 15, 1938(1938-10-15)
Origin Abeokuta, Nigeria
Died August 2, 1997 (aged 58)
Genre(s) Afrobeat
Occupation(s)
Singer-songwriter, instrumentalist
Instrument(s)
Saxophone, singing, keyboards, trumpet, guitar, drum
Years active
1958 - 1997

Associated acts
Africa '70, Egypt 80, Koola Lobitos, Nigeria '70

Fela Anikulapo Kuti (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, October 15, 1938 - August 2, 1997), or simply Fela, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick

Fela was born in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria to a middle-class family. His mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, was a feminist active in the anti-colonial movement and his father, Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, a Protestant minister and school Principal, was the first president of the Nigerian Union of Teachers. His brothers, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti and Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, were both well known in Nigeria.
Fela went to London in 1958 with the intention of studying medicine but decided to study music instead at the Trinity College of Music. While there, he formed the band Koola Lobitos, playing a style of music that he would later call Afrobeat. The style was a fusion of American Jazz and Funk with West African Highlife. In 1961, Fela married his first wife, Remilekun (Remi) Taylor, with whom he would have three children (Femi, Yeni and Sola). In 1963, Fela moved back to Nigeria, re-formed Koola Lobitos and trained as a radio producer for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1969, Fela took the band to the United States. While there, Fela discovered the black power movement through Sandra Smith(now Isidore) -- a partisan of the Black Panther Party--which would heavily influence his music and political views and renamed the band "Nigeria 70". Soon, the Immigration and Naturalization Service were tipped off by a promoter that Fela and his band were in the US without work permits. The band then performed a quick recording session in Los Angeles, which would later be released as "The '69 Los Angeles Sessions".
Fela and his band, renamed "Africa '70" returned to Nigeria. He then formed the Kalakuta Republic, a commune, a recording studio and a home for many connected to the band which he later declared independent from the Nigerian state. Fela set up a nightclub in the Empire Hotel, named the Afro-Spot and then the Afrika Shrine, where he performed regularly. Fela also changed his middle name to "Anikulapo" (meaning "he who carries death in his pouch"), stating that his original middle name of Ransome was a slave name. The recordings continued, and the music became more politically motivated. Fela's music became very popular among the Nigerian public and Africans in general. In fact, he made the decision to sing in Pidgin English so that his music could be enjoyed by individuals all over Africa, where the local languages spoken are very diverse and numerous. As popular as Fela's music had become in Nigeria and elsewhere, it was also very unpopular with the ruling government, and raids on the Kalakuta Republic were frequent. In 1974 the police arrived with a search warrant and a cannabis joint, which they had intended to plant on Fela. He became wise to this and swallowed the joint. In response, the police took him into custody and waited to examine his feces. Fela enlisted the help of his prison mates and gave the police someone else's feces, and Fela was freed. He then recounted this tale in his release Expensive Shit.
In 1977 Fela and the Afrika 70 released the hit album Zombie, a scathing attack on Nigerian soldiers using the "zombie" metaphor to describe the methods of the Nigerian military. The album was a smash hit with the people and infuriated the government, setting off a vicious attack against the Kalakuta Republic, during which one thousand soldiers attacked the commune. Fela was severely beaten, and his elderly mother was thrown from a window, causing fatal injuries. The Kalakuta Republic was burned, and Fela's studio, instruments, and master tapes were destroyed. Fela claimed that he would have been killed if it were not for the intervention of a commanding officer as he was being beaten. Fela's response to the attack was to deliver his mother's coffin to the main army barrack in Lagos and write two songs, "Coffin for Head of State" and "Unknown Soldier," referencing the official inquiry which claimed the commune had been destroyed by an unknown soldier.
Fela and his band then took residence in Crossroads Hotel as the Shrine had been destroyed along with his commune. In 1978 Fela married twenty seven women, many of whom were his dancers and singers to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Kalakuta Republic. Later, he was to adopt a rotation system of keeping only twelve simultaneous wives.The year was also marked by two notorious concerts, the first in Accra in which riots broke out during the song "Zombie" which led to Fela being banned from entering Ghana. The second was at the Berlin Jazz Festival after which most of Fela's musicians deserted him, due to rumors that Fela was planning to use the entirety of the proceeds to fund his presidential campaign.
Despite the massive setbacks, Fela was determined to come back. He formed his own political party, which he called "Movement of the People". In 1979 he put himself forward for President in Nigeria's first elections for more than a decade but his candidature was refused. At this time, Fela created a new band called "Egypt 80" and continued to record albums and tour the country. He further infuriated the political establishment by dropping the names of ITT vice-president Moshood Abiola and then General Olusegun Obasanjo at the end of a hot-selling 25-minute political screed entitled "International Thief Thief".
In 1984 he was again attacked by the Military government, who jailed him on a dubious charge of currency smuggling. His case was taken up by several human-rights groups, and after twenty months, he was released from prison by General Ibrahim Babangida. On his release he divorced his twelve remaining wives, telling "Marriage brings jealousy and selfishness". Once again, Fela continued to release albums with Egypt 80, made a number of successful tours of the United States and Europe and also continued to be politically active. In 1986, Fela performed in Giants Stadium in New Jersey as part of the Amnesty International "Conspiracy of Hope" concert, sharing the bill with Bono, Carlos Santana, and The Neville Brothers.
His album output slowed in the 1990s, and eventually he stopped releasing albums altogether. The battle against military corruption in Nigeria was taking its toll, especially during the rise of dictator Sani Abacha. Rumors were also spreading that he was suffering from an illness for which he was refusing treatment. On August 3, 1997 Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, already a prominent AIDS activist and former Minister of Health, stunned the nation by announcing his younger brother's death a day earlier from Kaposi's sarcoma brought on by AIDS. (Their younger brother, Beko, was in jail at this time at the hand of Abacha for political activity). More than a million people attended Fela's funeral at the site of the old Shrine compound.

Music
The musical style performed by Fela Kuti is called Afrobeat, which is essentially a fusion of jazz, funk and Traditional African Chant. It is characterized by having African style percussion, vocals, and musical structure, along with jazzy, funky horn sections. The "endless groove" is also used, in which a base rhythm of drums, muted guitar, and bass guitar are repeated throughout the song. This is a common technique in African and African-influenced musical styles, and can be seen in funk and hip-hop. Some elements often present in Fela's music are the call-and-response with the chorus and figurative but simple lyrics. Fela's songs were almost always over ten minutes in length, some reaching the twenty or even thirty minute marks. This was one of many reasons that his music never reached a substantial degree of popularity outside of Africa. His songs were mostly sung in Nigerian pidgin, although he also performed a few songs in the Yoruba language. Fela's main instruments were the saxophone and the keyboards but he also played the trumpet, guitar and made the occasional drum solo. Fela refused to perform songs again after he had already recorded them, which also hindered his popularity outside Africa. Fela was known for his showmanship, and his concerts were often quite outlandish and wild.

Political views
The American Black Power movement influenced Fela's political views. He was also a supporter of Pan-Africanism and socialism (although in a 1982 documentary he can clearly be seen rejecting both capitalism and socialism in favour of a third way that he described as Africanism), and called for a united, democratic African republic. He was a fierce supporter of human rights, and many of his songs are direct attacks against dictatorships, specifically the militaristic governments of Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s. He was also a social commentator, and criticized his fellow Africans (especially the upper class) for betraying traditional African culture. The African culture he believed in also included having many wives (polygyny) and the Kalakuta Republic was formed in part as a polygamist colony. He defended his stance on polygamy with the words; "A man goes for many women in the first place. Like in Europe, when a man is married, when the wife is sleeping, he goes out and fucks around. He should bring the women in the house, man, to live with him, and stop running around the streets!"His views towards women are characterised by some as misogynist, with songs like "Mattress" typically cited as evidence. It should be noted though that Fela was very open when it came to sex, as he portrayed in some of his songs, like "Open and Close" and "Na Poi".

Welcome to the New Africa Shrine

NEW AFRICA SHRINE GARDEN















FELA'S FIBRE IMAGE IN THE NEW AFRICA SHRINE
















INSIDE THE HALL DURING REHEARSAL















FRONT VIEW OF NAS















BLACK SALUTE


Origin of the Shrine
In 1968, Fela Anikulapo-kuti announced the arrival of Afrobeat; within the year he was promoting his sound all over the USA on a 10-month tour where he became influenced by American jazz. When he returned to his homeland (Nigeria), he opened a nightclub: the Shrine.
Shrine was originally known as Afro spot, a nightclub that Fela rented called Kakadu. He then moved to Surulere nightclub and later on Empire hotel. Here was where he made the original shrine his place of worship and he was known as the Chief Priest of the Africa Shrine.
In 1977 soldiers burned Fela’s house and the Government seized the Africa Shrine. In fact, the whole area where he lived was seized. He now found land situated on Pepple Street in Ikeja environ of Lagos town, rented the land and built the Africa Shrine- his place of worship and a place where he performed.
Unfortunately the owners of the land didn’t share his ideals and soon moved to evict him off this land. In Fela’s lifetime the court had plagued him and at the time he died they were bent on taking back the land. Femi his first son and his family tried all they could to get them to sell the land but to no avail.
Femi now decided to leave the building since it was impossible to persuade them, carrying the “Shrine” itself and moved it to a new place, he built the NEW AFRICA SHRINE in Agidingbi – Ikeja. He built a befitting Mecca of Afrobeat in honor of a great man and here Fela is regarded as a Deity.

THE NEW AFRICA SHRINE (NAS)
The New Africa Shrine can be viewed in various perspectives i.e. concert hall by night, social drop in center in the daytime, living space, a place for political instructions, a temple. The Shrine remains a place where awareness is mixed with forgetting their daily problems and words are put into music.
The New Africa Shrine is rising up to prove that, like the Yoruba proverb: “OMO TI EKUN BA BI EKUN NI JO” meaning that the son of a tiger will always be a tiger.
When Femi Kuti is in the country he plays on Tuesdays and Thursdays (rehearsals), Fridays and Sundays (concerts) to a packed house of people. With music as his weapon of choice and Africa Shrine as a temple of protest songs, Femi continues his Fathers fight against corrupt Nigerian Government and strongly defending Pan Africanism.
On the pillars of the Shrine are portraits of Great African Leaders, Africanist, Poets and heroes of Black Power e.g. Fela Anikulapo-kuti, Nelson Mandela, Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, Kwame Nkrumah, Mathin Luther, Malcolm X, Olufunmilayo Ransom Kuti (Fela’s mother).
The Shrine has become the emblem of the city where despite the setback caused by those who reject the outspoken views against corrupt politicians. Despite the economic pressure in running such a venue, the New Africa Shrine is as well known as its predecessor Old Africa Shrine.
In the New Africa Shrine, hope is restored to the oppressed because everyone mingles, there is no show of class and Femi Kuti’s concert simmered with energy lacks nothing of his Fathers performance. Like his Father before him, Femi refers to our daily struggle and suffering of the masses under a nonchalant government of greed.
The Shrine is built for the purpose of propagating the cause of human right, justice, emancipation and for the spread of Afrobeat to the world.

The location
The New Africa Shrine is situated on 1 Nerdc Road, Agidingbi – Ikeja. It is in the heart of the central business District and close to the Lagos State Governor’s office and Secretariat Alausa.
The Inner shrine
The shrine where Fela used to perform his rites as our ancestors required has been upgraded to suit the status of a legend. In the modern Shrine built in the premises of the New Africa Shrine, Fela is symbolized as a Deity.
The sanctum has a similar design of marble like his place of rest in Gbemisola Street. There is an aura that surrounds the place because of the sacredness and sanctity maintained in the presence of the shrine. Those who understand the on the ground spiritual game better understand it.
With the improvement of the shrine, the four elements of Earth, Water, Wind and Fire can be viewed alongside memorable pictures of Fela. At the heart of the Shrine is the fiber image of Fela starring at anyone looking right opposite him? Below the image is a spring like flow of water. Significantly noticeable above the fiber image of Fela is his major trademark tight fitting costume that he wore for his last major performance before his demise.
The spring like flow which flows continuously, was fetched from his house at Gbemisola and worshippers touch is as a form of blessing others wash their faces with it, when asked, they tell you they do it to tap from the on the ground spiritual power of Abami Eda (Chief Priest Fela Anikulapo-Kuti).
Worshippers at the Shrine regard Fela as an Icon, Model, Deity and Spiritual Head of the Afrobeat movement above all a fighter for the oppressed.
Inner facilities
The New Africa Shrine has three main gates (Entry, exit and for Contingency). At the point of entry you will pass our Garden bar that was set up for those who prefer an outside view of the vicinity and on entry a sign welcomes you into the Shrine.
Inside we have our standard restaurant at the right, two bars, a pay-in Gallery and free/general Gallery. Seating arrangement is setup in such a manner to face the stage, which is the focus of all attention during rehearsals and concerts.
On this Stage Femi Kuti and the Positive force delivers the sermon of Afrobeat to the crowd who will be yearning to hear more and more…. .They come in regularly from different part of the world.
Security
In a bid to clear all misconceptions about the New Africa Shrine, the Management is working with the relevant authorities for the maintenance of law and order. We have security personnel before, during and after rehearsals/concerts. They cater for parking/guarding of cars and control of traffic. Our security personnel can be seen on the cover of Femi live album CD and DVD “ Femi Kuti live at the Shrine”. The engagement of the police patrol and anti-robbery squad is to give bite and carry the authorities along.