In the seventies, as signs of decay began to show in the capitalist experiment of the newly independent African countries, a “bard of the misrule” emerged on the streets of Lagos. Often shirtless and armed with his trademark saxophone, Fela Anikulapo Kuti tore his way into popular culture with Afrob...

Dedication

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Sola Olorunyomi (2022)

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To the fond memory of Soladegbin Anikulapo-Kuti, Frances Kuboye and Uncle Koye To Sisi Dolu and Faisal HelwaniThanks, Fela’s friend and manager, Benson Idonije Members of the Egypt ’80 Band, The Positive Force, and the global Afrobeat communityDefiant soul Beko Ransome-KutiAll who dared to dream… an...

Acknowledgements

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Sola Olorunyomi (2022)

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The early completion of this book was facilitated through an initial grant from the French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA), Ibadan.Subsequent complementary research and travel grants were offered by the following organisations:Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR), Nigeria;The Bri...

Glossary

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Sola Olorunyomi (2022)

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Afrika ShrineFela’s place of worship and nightspot. The aspect of worship started at the Empire Hotel (Fela’s former shrine), but was given full expression when he moved to Pepple Street. During musical interludes, Fela breaks off to worship with band members and acolytes.AfrobeatThis is the name by...

Preface

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2022)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

I always knew that I had a date, someday, to describe Fela’s Afrobeat musical innovation. However, the inclination to examine this musical and cultural practice only began earnestly during the Harmattan semester of 1982, even though, as a high school student, I had experimented with some of Fela’s c...

Tradition and Afrobeat

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2022)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Idan pa Ọhi Ọyẹ muA Confounding experience, this;Yet the buffoon hollers—a mere harmattan haze.Ookun-Yorùbá aphorism.That voice sprouted again and Crawled into their skulls and began to howl His voice walked ahead and came behindAnd rocked the earth like storm…They did not return The voice survives…...

Bard of the Public Sphere

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2022)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Here, we walk the street where laughter is hidden in deep places and stores cannot shut their doorschoked with hearts that bleed from gathered wounds and you will see nothing can grow here, but agony…—OGAGA IFOWODOThe Afrobeat vision as espoused by Fela is largely scattered in his public lectures, m...

The Empire Sounds Back

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2022)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

My body is a temple Of angry music Flames in my brainItching forms in my blood—REMI RAJIWhoever chose the path of stones Whoever wove the tunes into the clouds, and made the street jumpin the frenzy of a danceor made the heads of the Palm sway In the eternal parable of the wind let them gathera time...

Idán, or a Carnivalesque

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2022)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

I thought I had finally come to my land of bones When the hellish birds of an eveningDrew out my ears To the sublime pathThat gave demons eternal voices And since then, all eveningGypsies have been making music from bones…—SANYA OSHAThere is a definite preference here, as would have become obvious f...

Alterity, Afrobeat and the Law

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2022)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

And you say God knows about these things? And you say logic connects these things?And you say I shouldn’t learn to mourn well? This is endsong, the cornerstone where they cry—CHIEDU EZEANAHWatch it, irate childYou don’t learn how to fall into a pit All it takes is the first step—MARY OLORUNYOMIAs co...

The Afrobeat Continuum

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2022)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

The memory of the dead is the memory of the living the monologue of the deadis the monologue of the unborn…—MAIK NWOSUFela died on August 2, 1997. And though his life was particularly eventful, once the announcement of his exit was made, the events leading to his interment began to bear a symbolic i...

Bibliography

Bibliographies

Sola Olorunyomi (2022)

Bibliographies

Abalogu, Uchegbulam et al. Oral Poetry in Nigeria. Lagos: Nigeria Magazine, 1981.Abdul-Raheem, Tajudeen. Pan Africanism: Politics, Economy and Social Change in the Twenty First Century. London: Pluto Press, 1996.Adair, Christy Women and Dance: Sylphs and Sirens. London: Macmillan, 1992.Adebayo, Aduk...

Discography

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2022)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Album titles and tracks are in bold/italics highlight. I wish to acknowledge the assistance of the following people for assisting in tracking some of these albums. Special thanks to Messrs Taiye Olagorusi, Jimi Agbebaku, Babatunde Jimoh and Adu James of Mr. T’s All-Fela-Music-Centre, Ikeja, Lagos. T...

Excerpts from the Constitution of the Movement of the People (MOP)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2022)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Motto: Work, Truth, and HappinessPart OneNameThe name of the Party shall be the Movement of the People (MOP). Aims and ObjectivesNational:(a) To fight relentlessly to achieve and maintain the second Independence of the People of Nigeria;(b) To serve as the positive political vanguard for removing al...

Bio-data and Inventory of Sonic Censorship

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2022)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

October 15, 1938A year before the outbreak of World War II, another male child named Olufela is born into the Ransome-Kuti family at Abeokuta, western Nigeria. He is the third in the line of five children, with elder sister Dolu, elder brother Olikoye, the deceased Hildergath and Beko. Subsequently...

Photographs

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2022)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Fela with his family of orientationReverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti and Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti are seated. Olikoye is to their right, Dolu is behind them, and Fela is in the foreground. Beko is the infant in Funmilayo’s arms.Fela and the Koola Lobitos in October 1961The pictures were taken by B...

Index

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2022)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

AAba Women’s Revolt, 13, 16Abacha, Maryam, 17Abacha, Sani, 16,regime, 132, 192Abati Barracks, xxi, 48, 165, 174, 175, 176Abdullahi, Hamza, xxviii, 174Abeokuta, 6, 17, 18, 73, 232Abidjan, 170Abiola, Moshood, 15abrogation, 69and appropriation, 69Abuja, 16, 62Accra, xii, 3, 186acoustics and instrumenta...

Afrobeat!

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2005)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

IN AFROBEAT! A POPULAR ARTIST, a counter-hegemonic activist of the hardest grain, meets his most cerebral, disquisitional interpreter. – ODIA OFEIMUN, Leading African poet and former President, Association of Nigerian Authors. This is not just another addition to a growing Fela scholarship but a fas...

Acknowledgments

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Sola Olorunyomi (2005)

Autres

The early completion of this book was facilitated through an initial grant from the French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA), Ibadan.Subsequent complementary research and travel grants were offered by the following organizations:Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR), Nigeria;The Bri...

Glossary

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2005)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Preface

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2005)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

I always knew that I had a date, someday to describe Fela’s Afrobeat musical innovation. However, the inclination to examine this musical and cultural practice only began earnestly during the Harmattan semester of 1982, even though, as a high school student, I had experimented with some of Fela’s co...

1. Tradition and Afrobeat

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2005)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

That voice sprouted again andCrawled into their skulls and began to howlHis voice walked ahead and came behindAnd rocked the earth like storm...They did not returnThe voice survives...—Olu OguibeCloud without shadeCumulus without showerSaturday night at the bard’sAn overcast of cannabis—Sola Oloruny...

2. Bard of the Public Sphere

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2005)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Here, we walk the streetwhere laughter is hidden in deep placesand stores cannot shut their doorschoked with hearts that bleed from gathered woundsand you will see nothing can grow here, but agony...—Ogaga IfowodoThe Afrobeat vision as espoused by Fela is largely scattered in his public lectures, me...

3. The Empire Sounds Back

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2005)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

My body is a templeOf angry music Flames in my brainItching forms in my blood—Remi RajiWhoever chose the path of stonesWhoever wove the tunes into the clouds,and made the street jumpin the frenzy of a danceor made the heads of the Palm swayIn the eternal parable of the windlet them gathera timeless...

4. Idán, or a Carnivalesque

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

Sola Olorunyomi (2005)

Livres et chapitres d'ouvrages

I thought I had finally come to my land of bonesWhen the hellish birds of an eveningDrew out my earsTo the sublime pathThat gave demons eternal voicesAnd since then, all eveningGypsies have been making music from bones..—Sanya OshaThere is a definite preference here, as would have become obvious fro...