Fela Kuti was born in Nigeria, in Abeokuta, to a relatively wealthy family. His parents had been active as revolutionaries in the battle for independence from the British. The first music he recorded was with the band Koola Lobitos, in London. The music was based on jazz, which was the new cool thing in town, and went against the more accepted classical based music expected of him.
In 1969 there was an established jazz band in Nigeria called the Highlife Jazz Band. Fela Kuti developed his own personal jazz style while on tour with the band. He then visited LA and became aware of the Black Panther movement led by Malcolm X. It seemed to politicize him and his music took on this new political awareness. Then he adopted the ‘on the one’ funk style of James Brown and in the blink of an eye transformed what was known as highlife jazz into ‘Afrobeat. This wasn’t just a big deal because Fela was an African, but because he was the first, the very first, jazz artist to take funk to jazz. His band became known as Africa 70. It played regular gigs at his own venue called The Shrine in Lagos, Nigeria. Listening to Africa 70 and comparing them to James Brown’s band of the time, it’s obvious that the former put the latter in the shade. The two key albums from this period are ’69 Los Angeles Sessions’ and ‘Fela’s London Scene.
His politics were the starting point for all his work. He also tried to become president of Nigeria on two occasions. Safe to say, he was a massive star in his land of birth. He had also gained a big reputation as a fine artist and a force of good within western artistic circles. When he was put in prison in 1985 David Byrne, amongst others, petitioned for his release.
Fela Kuti’s music, like just about all Afrobeat music, is built on either the piano or saxophone. Then the horn section is introduced along with tricky complex rhythms. This leads the way to call and response singing. Underpinning all of this is the bass which takes on melodic duties as well as becoming a percussion instrument at the same time. Another essential element of the Africa 70 (which turned into Egypt 80 as Afrobeat slowed and became more melodic) band was the drummer Tony Allen. A highlight from this time was ‘Beasts Of No Nation’. Fela Kuti was on sax duties, as well as trumpet and piano, and also vocals. As he toured with the album, he spent long periods of each show talking political issues with (or should that say ‘at’) his audience.
Fela went on to work with Dennis Bovell in the eighties. Bovell had previously been responsible for the Slits, the Pop Group and Linton Kwesi Johnson albums. He also spent time working with Bill Laswell, a main player in the New York avant-garde punk and funk scene. Fela Kuti died in 1997. He was fifty eight. He died of an AIDS related illness. So, in death, as in life, the great man managed to draw attention to another major issue which had not been addressed or acknowledged in his own country.
