I first heard Fela's "Lady" when I was five years old and I have been
addicted to Afro-beat ever since. Whether Nigeria survives as a single entity or
not, when the annals of her history are written Fela's name will feature
prominently in the fields of Politics,Music and Culture.
It is said that a
prophet is never honored in his homeland, and in this respect, Fela is Nigeria's
Bob Marley. Like Bob, it may be only after his death that his true significance
is recognized.
Fela was a gifted musician, a pan-Africanist, but above
all a freedom fighter, a champion for the masses of Africa, someone who put into
words and song what many of us who are from the African continent think about
some of the monstrous regimes that hold sway on our fatherland.
I like
Fela because his Afro-beat evokes the sentiment of the pan-African freedom
fighter in me; because he put deadly serious matters in a humorous tone, because
he was not afraid to take on those who have raped and pillaged Africa our
fatherland, be they African or not.
Afro-beat is a style all of its own -
it is a synthesis of jazz, funk and West African highlife rhythms. It is a sound
that is unique to Fela, (though Manu Dibango evokes some Afro-beat themes in
some of his numbers) and Femi his son, is trying to fill his father's extremely
big shoes. What interested me most about Fela's music are its political
overtones - sometimes explicit, at other times implicit and jabbing. He was an
uncompromising freedom fighter.
Here is a synopsis of some of my
favorites:
In Just Like That the theme is the failure of successive leaders of
Nigeria since the demise of the First Republic; he gives a brief synopsis of
their blunders, whether deliberate or mistaken and uses his them to state that
these blunders were made "Just Like That" with no accountability to the
populace.
In Pansa-Pansa he is uncompromising as he states "As
long as Africa dey suffer, Africa nor unite, No freedom, No Justice, we go hear
Pansa-Pansa".
In Zombie he satirizes the military regimes of
which we West Africans are all too-familiar as he likens the soldiers to
mindless zombies.
"Zombie nor dae go unless you tell am to go.... Go and
kill (Zombie), go and die (Zombie) go and quench (Zombie) , put am for reverse
)(zombie). Order... Dismisssssed...."
In Overtake don Overtake
Overtake he recounts the all-too familiar tale of the African political
disease of miltary regimes.You would think that all African miltary regimes may
be characterized by the acronyms that end in C, as he says
"In Libya them
call am Liberation Council, in Liberia dem call am Redemption Council, in Zaire
dem call am Revolutionary Council, but we all know say nar 'soja go, soja
come'"
In ITT (International Tiff-Tiff) he is unwavering in his
criticism of now imprisoned presidential aspirant moshood Abiola and ex-military
leader Olusegun Obasanjo (also imprisoned by the current Abacha regime) for
Abiola's plundering of the telecommunications parastatal while he was at its
helm under obasanjo's regime and for obasanjo regimes corrupt
practices.
In Underground System Fela sings about 'Osagyefo
Kwame Nkrumah being the greatest one among African leaders'. I would venture to
assert that Fela may be the greatest one among African musicians.
In
Original Sufferhead Fela laments about the day to day suffering of
Africans.
'Dat mean to say you nor dae for Africa. If you dey for Africa you
go know plenty; about water, foodooo, houseee,lighteee...'
In Sorrow
Tears and Blood he criticises the brutality of African military regimes
while at the same time exhorting Africans to stand up for their rights as he
says
'My people sef dey fear too much, we fear for di tin we nor see, we
fear for di air around us, we fear to fight for freedom.. justice, we always get
reason to fear...I wan bill house, Papa dae for house... A nor wan die ... dem
leave sorrow tears and blood, dem regular trademark..'
In Lady
Fela sings satirically about the 'liberated' lady who does not want to be
referred to as an African woman since "If you call am African woman she nor go
gree, she go say a bi lady oh..."
Fela's death is a loss not only to
Nigeria and Africa but also to the supporters of freedom, equality and justice
for all. It is hoped that his son, Femi Kuti will fill his father's shoes as
best he can for the world needs the Afro-beat to live on. We cannot afford to
let it die.