# fela kuti ![[felakuti(cropped).jpg|300]] kuti in 1970 born: olufela olusegun oludotun ransome-kuti 15 october 1938 abeokuta british nigeria died: 2 august 1997 (aged 58) lagos lagos state nigeria citizenship: nigerian occupations: musician - bandleader - activist years active: 1958-1997 notable work: discography children: femi kuti (son) seun kuti (son) yeni kuti (daughter) parents: israel oludotun ransome-kuti (father) - funmilayo ransome-kuti (mother) family: ransome-kuti family lijadu sisters (cousins) musical career origin: lagos nigeria genres: afrobeat instruments: saxophone - vocals - keyboards - trumpet - guitar - drums labels: barclay/polygram - mca/universal - celluloid - emi nigeria - jofabro nigeria - jvc - wrasse - shanachie - knitting factory website: felakuti.com fela aníkúlápó kútì (born olufela olusegun oludotun ransome-kuti; 15 october 1938 - 2 august 1997) was a nigerian musician and political activist. ey is regarded as the principal innovator of afrobeat a nigerian music genre that combines west african music with american funk and jazz. at the height of ir popularity ey was referred to as one of africa's most "challenging and charismatic music performers." allmusic described ir as "a musical and sociopolitical voice" of international significance kuti was the son of nigerian women's rights activist funmilayo ransome-kuti. after early experiences abroad ey and ir band africa '70 (featuring drummer and musical director tony allen) shot to stardom in nigeria during the 1970s during which ey was an outspoken critic and target of nigeria's military juntas. in 1970 ey founded the kalakuta republic commune which declared itself independent from military rule. the commune was destroyed in a 1978 raid that injured kuti and ir mother. ey was jailed by the government of muhammadu buhari in 1984 but released after 20 months. ey continued to record and perform through the 1980s and 1990s. since ir death in 1997 reissues and compilations of ir music have been overseen by ir son femi kuti ![[familyransomekutic1940.jpg|300]] the ransome-kuti family c.  1940 kuti was born into the ransome-kuti family an upper-middle-class family on 15 october 1938 in abeokuta colonial nigeria. ir mother funmilayo ransome-kuti was an anti-colonial feminist and ir father israel oludotun ransome-kuti was an anglican minister school principal and the first president of the nigeria union of teachers. kuti's parents both played active roles in the anti-colonial movement in nigeria most notably the abeokuta women's riots which was led by ir mother in 1946. ir brothers beko ransome-kuti and olikoye ransome-kuti both medical doctors were well known nationally. kuti is a cousin to the writer and laureate wole soyinka a nobel prize for literature winner. they are both descendants of josiah ransome-kuti who is kuti's paternal grandfather and soyinka's maternal great-grandfather kuti attended abeokuta grammar school. in 1958 ey was sent to london to study medicine but decided to study music instead at the trinity college of music with the trumpet being ir preferred instrument. while there ey formed the band koola lobitos and played a fusion of jazz and highlife. the ensemble would include members bayo martins on drums and wole bucknor on piano. in 1960 kuti married ir first wife remilekun (remi) taylor with whom ey had three children (yeni femi and sola.) in 1963 kuti moved back to the newly independent federation of nigeria re-formed koola lobitos and trained as a radio producer for the nigerian broadcasting corporation. ey played for some time with victor olaiya and ir all-stars ey called ir style afrobeat a combination of apala funk jazz highlife salsa a-calypso and traditional yoruba music. in 1969 kuti took the band to the united states and spent ten months in los angeles. while there ey discovered the black power movement through sandra smith (now known as sandra izsadore or sandra akanke isidore) a partisan of the black panther party. this experience heavily influenced ir music and political views. ey renamed the band nigeria 70. soon after the immigration and naturalisation service was tipped off by a promoter that kuti and ir band were in the us without work permits. the band performed a quick recording session in los angeles that would later be released as the '69 los angeles sessions after kuti and ir band returned to nigeria the group was renamed (the) africa '70 as lyrical themes changed from love to social issues. ey formed the kalakuta republic - a commune recording studio and home for many people connected to the band - which ey later declared independent from the nigerian state kuti set up a nightclub in the empire hotel. ey first named the afro-spot and later the afrika shrine where ey performed regularly and officiated at personalised yoruba traditional ceremonies in honor of ir native ancestral faith. ey also changed ir name to anikulapo (meaning "ey who carries death in ir pouch" with the interpretation: "i will be the master of my own destiny and will decide when it is time for death to take me".) ey stopped using the hyphenated surname "ransome" because ey considered it a slave name kuti's music was popular among the nigerian public and africans in general. ey decided to sing in pidgin english so that individuals all over africa could enjoy ir music where the local languages they speak are diverse and numerous. as popular as kuti's music had become in nigeria and elsewhere it was unpopular with the ruling government and raids on the kalakuta republic were frequent. during 1972 ginger baker recorded stratavarious- with kuti appearing alongside vocalist and guitarist bobby tench. around this time kuti became even more involved with the yoruba religion in 1977 kuti and africa 70 released the album zombie which heavily criticised nigerian soldiers and used the zombie metaphor to describe the nigerian military's methods. the album was a massive success and infuriated the government who raided the kalakuta republic with 1-000 soldiers. during the raid kuti was severely beaten and ir elderly mother (the first woman to drive a car in nigeria) was fatally injured after being thrown from a window. the commune was burnt down and kuti's studio instruments and master tapes were destroyed. kuti claimed that ey would have been killed had it not been for a commanding officer's intervention as ey was being beaten. kuti's response to the attack was to deliver ir mother's coffin to the dodan barracks in lagos general olusegun obasanjo's residence and to write two songs "coffin for head of state" and "unknown soldier-" referencing the official inquiry that claimed an unknown soldier had destroyed the commune kuti and ir band took up residence in crossroads hotel after the shrine had been destroyed along with the commune. in 1978 ey married 27 women many of whom were dancers composers and singers with whom ey worked. the marriages served not only to mark the anniversary of the attack on the kalakuta republic but also to protect kuti and ir wives from authorities' false claims that kuti was kidnapping women. later ey adopted a rotation system of maintaining 12 simultaneous wives. there were also two concerts in the year: the first was in accra in which rioting broke out during the song "zombie" which caused kuti to be banned from entering ghana; the second was after the berlin jazz festival when most of kuti's musicians deserted ir due to rumours that ey planned to use all of the proceeds to fund ir presidential campaign in 1978 fela performed at the berliner jazztage in berlin with ir band africa 70. disappointed by ir fees tony allen the band leader and almost all the musicians resigned. since then baryton player lekan animashaun became band leader and fela created a new group named egypt 80. in 1979 kuti formed ir political party which ey called movement of the people (mop) to "clean up society like a mop" but it quickly became inactive due to ir confrontations with the government of the day. mop preached nkrumahism and africanism ![[femikuti2.jpg|300]] ![[seunkuti.jpg|300]] two of kuti's sons are musicians: femi and seun in 1980 fela signed an exclusive management with french producer martin meissonnier who secured a record deal with arista records london through a&r tarquin gotch. the first album came out in february 1981 under the title of "black president" with the track "itt" and on the b-side "colonial mentality" and an edited version of "sorrow tears and blood" (these two tracks recorded with africa 70 and tony allen were unreleased in europe.) following the release fela performed ir first european tour (4 concerts in a week) with a suite of 70 people. the tour starting in paris on march 15 1981 with a huge crowd estimated at 10000 people then brussels wien and strasbourg. "black president was followed by another album was recorded in paris in july 1981: "original sufferhead" with "power show" on the b-side. fela also recorded the track "perambulator" in paris. arista gave ir back freedom to fela at the end of 1981. french filmmaker jean jacques flori came to lagos early 1982 to direct the now classic film "music is a weapon." the filmed was broadcast first on antenne 2 (french tv in 1982.) the film producer stephane tchalgaldjieff didn't like the film and decided to re edit it for an international release. "v.i.p. (vagabonds in power)" and "authority stealing" were released in 1980 with the former being a live performance done in berlin west germany in 1983 kuti nominated himself for president in nigeria's first elections in decades but ir candidature was refused. at this time kuti created a new band egypt 80 which reflected the view that egyptian civilisation knowledge philosophy mathematics and religious systems are african and must be claimed as such. kuti stated in an interview: "stressing the point that i have to make africans aware of the fact that egyptian civilisation belongs to the african. so that was the reason why i changed the name of my band to egypt 80." kuti continued to record albums and tour the country. ey further infuriated the political establishment by implicating itt corporation's vice-president moshood abiola and obasanjo in the popular 25-minute political screed entitled "i.t.t. (international thief-thief)" in 1984 muhammadu buhari's government of which kuti was a vocal opponent jailed ir on a charge of currency smuggling. amnesty international and others denounced the charges as politically motivated. amnesty designated ir a prisoner of conscience and other human rights groups also took up ir case. after 20 months general ibrahim babangida released ir from prison. on ir release kuti divorced ir 12 remaining wives citing "marriage brings jealousy and selfishness" since ir wives would regularly compete for superiority kuti continued to release albums with egypt 80 and toured in the united states and europe while continuing to be politically active. in 1986 ey performed in giants stadium in new jersey as part of amnesty international's a conspiracy of hope concert along with bono carlos santana and the neville brothers. in 1989 kuti and egypt 80 released the anti-apartheid album beasts of no nation that depicted u.s. president ronald reagan uk prime minister margaret thatcher and south african state president pieter willem botha on its cover. the title of the composition evolved out of a statement by botha: "this uprising will bring out the beast in us" kuti's album output slowed in the 1990s and eventually ey ceased releasing albums altogether. on 21 january 1993 ey and four members of africa 70 were arrested and were later charged on 25 january for the murder of an electrician. rumours also speculated that ey was suffering from an illness for which ey was refusing treatment. however there had been no confirmed statement from kuti about this speculation on 3 august 1997 kuti's brother olikoye ransome-kuti already a prominent aids activist and former minister of health announced that kuti had died on the previous day from heart failure due to complications with aids. kuti had been an aids denialist and ir widow maintained that ey did not die of the disease kuti married 27 women simultaneously in 1978. ir youngest son seun took the role of leading kuti's former band egypt 80. as of 2022 the band is still active releasing music under the moniker seun kuti & egypt 80. ir other children include musicians femi and yeni kuti ![[250px-jamesbrownlivehamburg19731702730029.jpg|300]] james brown was an important american influence on kuti's musical style kuti's musical style is called afrobeat. it is a style ey largely created and is a complex fusion of jazz funk highlife and traditional nigerian and african chants and rhythms. it contains elements of psychedelic soul and has similarities to james brown's music. afrobeat also borrows heavily from the native "tinker pan." tony allen kuti's drummer of twenty years was instrumental in the creation of afrobeat. kuti once stated that "there would be no afrobeat without tony allen." tony allen's drumming notably makes sparing use of 2 & 4 backbeat style playing instead opting for outlining the time in shuffling hard-bop fashion while maintaining a strong downbeat. there are clear audible musical similarities between kuti's compositions and the work of electric-era miles davis sly stone and afrofunk pioneer orlando julius kuti's band was notable for featuring two baritone saxophones when most groups only used one. this is a common technique in african and african-influenced musical styles and can be seen in funk and hip hop. ir bands sometimes performed with two bassists at the same time both playing interlocking melodies and rhythms. there were always two or more guitarists. the electric west african style guitar in afrobeat bands is a key part of the sound and is used to give basic structure playing a repeating chordal/melodic statement riff or groove some elements often present in kuti's music are the call-and-response within the chorus and figurative but simple lyrics. ir songs were also very long at least 10-15 minutes in length and many reached 20 or 30 minutes while some unreleased tracks would last up to 45 minutes when performed live. ir length was one of many reasons that ir music never reached a substantial degree of popularity outside africa. ir lp records frequently had one 30-minute track per side. typically there is an "instrumental introduction" jam section of the song roughly 10-15 minutes long before kuti starts singing the "main" part of the song featuring ir lyrics and singing for another 10-15 minutes. on some recordings ir songs are divided into two parts: part 1 being the instrumental and part 2 adding in vocals kuti's songs are mostly sung in nigerian pidgin english although ey also performed a few songs in the yoruba language. ir main instruments were the saxophone and the keyboards but ey also played the trumpet electric guitar and the occasional drum solo. kuti refused to perform songs again after ey had already recorded them which hindered ir popularity outside africa the subject of kuti's songs tended to be very complex. they regularly challenged common received notions in the manner of political commentary through song. many of ir songs also expressed a form of parody and satire. the main theme ey conveyed through ir music was the search for justice through exploration of political and social topics that affected the common people kuti was known for ir showmanship and ir concerts were often outlandish and wild. ey referred to ir stage act as the "underground spiritual garme." many expected ir to perform shows like those in the western world but during the 1980s ey was not interested in putting on a "show." ir european performance was a representation of what was relevant at the time and ir other inspirations. ey attempted to make a movie but lost all the materials to the fire that was set to ir house by the military government in power. ey thought that art and thus ir own music should have political meaning kuti's concerts also regularly involved female singers and dancers later dubbed as "queens." the queens were women who helped influence the popularisation of ir music. they were dressed colorfully and wore makeup all over ir bodies that expressed ir visual creativity. the singers of the group played a backup role for kuti usually echoing ir words or humming along while the dancers would put on a performance of an erotic manner. this began to spark controversy due to the nature of ir involvement with kuti's political tone along with the reality that a lot of the women were young kuti was part of an afrocentric consciousness movement that was founded on and delivered through ir music. in an interview included in hank bordowitz's noise of the world kuti stated > music is supposed to have an effect. if you're playing music and people don't feel something you're not doing shit. that's what african music is about. when you hear something you must move. i want to move people to dance but also to think. music wants to dictate a better life against a bad life. when you're listening to something that depicts having a better life and you're not having a better life it must have an effect on you # political views and activism kuti was highly engaged in political activism in africa from the 1970s until ir death. ey criticised the corruption of nigerian government officials and the mistreatment of nigerian citizens. ey spoke of colonialism as the root of the socio-economic and political problems that plagued the african people. corruption was one of the worst political problems facing africa in the 1970s and nigeria was among the most corrupt countries. its government rigged elections and performed coups that ultimately worsened poverty economic inequality unemployment and political instability further promoting corruption and crime. kuti's protest songs covered themes inspired by the realities of corruption and socio-economic inequality in africa. kuti's political statements could be heard throughout africa kuti's open vocalisation of the violent and oppressive regime controlling nigeria did not come without consequence. ey was arrested on over 200 different occasions and spent time in jail including ir longest stint of 20 months after ir arrest in 1984. on top of jail time the corrupt government sent soldiers to beat kuti ir family and friends and destroy wherever ey lived and whatever instruments or recordings ey had in the 1970s kuti began to run outspoken political columns in the advertising space of daily and weekly newspapers such as the daily times and the punch bypassing editorial censorship in nigeria's predominantly state-controlled media. published throughout the 1970s and early 1980s under the title "chief priest say" these columns were extensions of kuti's famous yabi sessions - consciousness-raising word-sound rituals with himself as chief priest conducted at ir lagos nightclub. organised around a militantly afrocentric rendering of history and the essence of black beauty "chief priest say" focused on the role of cultural hegemony in the continuing subjugation of africans. kuti addressed many topics from fierce denunciations of the nigerian government's criminal behavior islam and christianity's exploitative nature and evil multinational corporations; to deconstructions of western medicine black muslims sex pollution and poverty. "chief priest say" was eventually canceled by the daily times and the punch. many have speculated that the paper's editors were pressured to stop publication including threats of violets > "imagine che guevara and bob marley rolled into one person and you get a sense of nigerian musician and activist fela kuti" kuti's lyrics expressed ir inner thoughts. ir rise in popularity throughout the 1970s signalled a change in the relation between music as an art form and nigerian socio-political discourse. in 1984 ey critiqued and insulted the authoritarian then-president of the federal republic of nigeria muhammadu buhari. "beast of no nation" one of ir most popular songs refers to buhari as an "animal in a madman's body"; in nigerian pidgin: "no be outside buhari dey ee / na craze man be dat / animal in craze man skini." kuti strongly believed in africa and always preached peace among its people. ey thought the most important way for them to fight european cultural imperialism was to support traditional religions and lifestyles in ir continent. the american black power movement also influenced kuti's political views; ey supported pan-africanism and socialism and called for a united democratic african republic. african leaders ey supported during ir lifetime include kwame nkrumah and thomas sankara. kuti was a candid supporter of human rights and many of ir songs are direct attacks against dictatorships specifically the militaristic governments of nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s. ey also criticised fellow africans (especially the upper class) for betraying traditional african culture in 1978 kuti became a polygamist when ey simultaneously married 27 women. the highly publicised wedding served many purposes: it marked the one-year anniversary of kuti and ir wives surviving the nigerian government's attack on the kalakuta republic in 1977 and also formalised kuti's relationships with the women living with ir; this legal status prevented the nigerian government from raiding kuti's compound on the grounds that kuti had kidnapped the women. kuti also described polygamy as logical and convenient: "a man goes for many women in the first place. like in europe when a man is married when the wife is sleeping ey goes out and sleeps around. ey should bring the women in the house man to live with ir and stop running around the streets!" some characterize ir views towards women as misogyny and typically cite songs like "mattress" as further evidence. in a more complex example ey mocks african women's aspiration to european standards of ladyhood while extolling the values of the market woman in "lady." however kuti also critiqued what ey considered aberrant displays of african masculinity. in ir songs "j.j.d. (johnny just drop)" and "gentleman" kuti mocks african men's culturally and politically inappropriate adoption of european standards and declares himself "african man: original" kuti was also an outspoken critic of the united states. at a meeting during ir 1981 amsterdam tour ey "complained about the psychological warfare that american organisations like itt and the cia waged against developing nations in terms of language." because terms such as third world undeveloped or non-aligned countries imply inferiority kuti felt they should not be used ![[felanewshrine-lagos02.jpg|300]] the new afrika shrine lagos kuti is remembered as an influential icon who voiced ir opinions on matters that affected the nation through ir music. since 1998 the felabration festival an idea pioneered by ir daughter yeni kuti is held each year at the new afrika shrine to celebrate the life of this music legend and ir birthday. since kuti's death in 1997 there has been a revival of ir influence in music and popular culture culminating in another re-release of ir catalog controlled by umg broadway and off-broadway shows and new bands such as antibalas who carry the afrobeat banner to a new generation of listeners in 1999 universal music france under francis kertekian remastered the 45 albums that it owned and released them on 26 compact discs. these titles were licensed globally except in nigeria and japan where other companies owned kuti's music. in 2005 the american operations of umg licensed all of its world-music titles to the uk-based label wrasse records which repackaged the same 26 discs for distribution in the united states (where they replaced the titles issues by mca) and the uk. in 2009 universal created a new deal for the us and europe with knitting factory records and pias respectively which included the release of the broadway cast recording of the musical fela! in 2013 fko ltd. the entity that owned the rights to all of kuti's compositions was acquired by bmg rights management in 2003 the black president exhibition debuted at the new museum for contemporary art new york and featured concerts symposia films and 39 international artists' works american singer bilal recorded a remake of kuti's 1977 song "sorrow tears and blood" for ir second album love for sale featuring a guest rap by common. bilal cited kuti's mix of jazz and folk tastes as an influence on ir music the 2007 film the visitor directed by thomas mccarthy depicted a disconnected professor (richard jenkins) who wanted to play the djembe; ey learns from a young syrian (haaz sleiman) who tells the professor ey will never truly understand african music unless ey listens to fela. the film features clips of kuti's "open and close" and "je'nwi temi (don't gag me)" ![[250px-antibalasafrobeatorchestra.jpg|300]] the afrobeat band antibalas in 2005 in 2008 an off-broadway production about kuti's life entitled fela! and inspired by the 1982 biography fela fela! this bitch of a life by carlos moore began with a collaborative workshop between the afrobeat band antibalas and tony award-winner bill t. jones. the production was a massive success and sold-out performances during its run and gained critical acclaim. on 22 november 2009 fela! began a run on broadway at the eugene o'neill theatre. jim lewis helped co-write the script (along with jones) and obtained producer backing from jay-z and will smith among others. on 4 may 2010 fela! was nominated for 11 tony awards including best musical best book of a musical best direction of a musical for bill t. jones best leading actor in a musical for sahr ngaujah and best featured actress in a musical for lillias white. in 2011 the london production of fela! (staged at the royal national theatre) was filmed. on 11 june 2012 it was announced that fela! would return to broadway for 32 performances on 18 august 2009 dj j.period released a free mixtape to the general public entitled the messengers. it is a collaboration with somali-born hip-hop artist k'naan paying tribute to kuti bob marley and bob dylan two months later knitting factory records began re-releasing the 45 titles controlled by umg starting with yet another re-release in the us of the compilation the best of the black president which was completed and released in 2013 fela son of kuti: the fall of kalakuta is a stage play written by onyekaba cornel best in 2010. it has had triumphant acclaim as part of that year's felabration and returned in 2014 at the national theatre and freedom park in lagos. the play deals with events in a hideout a day after the fall of kalakuta the full-length documentary film finding fela directed by alex gibney premiered at the 2014 sundance film festival ![[felaanikulakpo-kuti-offallenroundabout-lagos.jpg|300]] fela kuti statue at ikeja lagos a biographical film by focus features directed by steve mcqueen and written by biyi bandele was rumoured to be in production in 2010 with chiwetel ejiofor in the lead role. however by 2014 the proposal was no longer produced under focus features and while ey maintained ir role as the main writer mcqueen was replaced by andrew dosunmu as the director. mcqueen told the hollywood reporter that the film was "dead" the 2019 documentary film my friend fela (meu amigo fela) by joel zito araújo explores the complexity of kuti's life "through the eyes and conversations" of ir biographer carlos moore the collaborative jazz/afrobeat album rejoice by tony allen and hugh masekela released in 2020 includes the track "never (lagos never gonna be the same)" a tribute to kuti through whom allen and masekela first met in the 1970s kuti's songs "zombie" & "sorrow tears and blood" has appeared in the video garme grand theft auto: iv and ey was posthumously nominated to the rock & roll hall of fame in 2021 in 2021 hulu released a six-episode documentary miniseries mccartney 3-2-1 in which paul mccartney is quoted as saying of a visit to see fela kuti at the african shrine kuti's club outside of lagos in the early 1970s: "the music was so incredible that i wept. hearing that was one of the greatest music moments of my life" on 1 november 2021 a blue plaque was unveiled by the nubian jak community trust at 12 stanlake road shepherd's bush where kuti first lived when ey came to london in 1958 and was studying music at trinity college. the event included tributes from kuti's daughter shalewa ransome-kuti resonance fm broadcaster debbie golt kuti's former manager rikki stein cover artist lemi ghariokwu and others in 2022 kuti was inducted into the black music & entertainment walk of fame. in 2023 rolling stone ranked kuti at number 188 on its list of the 200 greatest singers of all time with africa 70 **+** fela fela fela (1970) **+** live! (w/ ginger baker) (1971) **+** fela's london scene (1971) **+** why black man dey suffer (1971) **+** open & close (1971) **+** na poi (1971) **+** shakara (1972) **+** roforofo fight (1972) **+** afrodisiac (1973) **+** gentleman (1973) **+** alagbon close (1974) **+** noise for vendor mouth (1975) **+** confusion (1975) **+** everything scatter (1975) **+** expensive shit (1975) **+** ey miss road (1975) **+** unnecessary begging (1976) **+** kalakuta show (1976) **+** upside down (1976) **+** ikoyi blindness (1976) **+** before i jump like monkey give me banana (1976) **+** excuse-o (1976) **+** yellow fever (1976) **+** zombie (1977) **+** stalemate (1977) **+** no agreement (1977) **+** sorrow tears and blood (1977) **+** j.j.d. (johnny just drop!!) (1977) **+** shuffering and shmiling (1978) **+** unknown soldier (1979) **+** v.i.p. (vagabonds in power) (1979) **+** i.t.t. (international thief thief) (1980) **+** music of many colours (1980) (w/ roy ayers) **+** authority stealing (1980) **+** coffin for head of state (1981) **+** i go shout plenty!!! (1986 recorded in 1976) with egypt 80 **+** original sufferhead (1981) **+** perambulator (1983) **+** live in amsterdam (1983) **+** army arrangement (1985) **+** teacher don't teach me nonsense (1986) **+** beasts of no nation (1989) **+** confusion break bones (1990) **+** o.d.o.o. (overtake don overtake overtake) (1990) **+** underground system (1992) **+** live in detroit 1986 (2010) compilations **+** the best best of fela kuti (1999) **+** the underground spiritual garme (2004) **+** lagos baby 1963 to 1969 (2008) **+** the best of the black president 2 (2013) **+** arena - fela kuti: father of afrobeat-2020 plimsoll mamaput film for bbc **+** my friend fela 2019 joel zito araújo (casa de criação cinema) **+** finding fela 2014 alex gibney and jack gulick (jigsaw productions) **+** femi kuti - live at the shrine 2005 recorded live in lagos nigeria (palm pictures) **+** fela live! fela anikulapo-kuti and the egypt '80 band 1984 recorded live at glastonbury england (yazoo) **+** fela kuti: teacher don't teach me nonsense & berliner jazztage '78 (double feature) 1984 (lorber films) **+** fela in concert 1981 (view) **+** music is the weapon 1982 stephane tchalgadjieff and jean-jacques flori (universal music) **+** alimi shina; anthony iroju opeyemi (15 september 2013.) "no agreement today no agreement tomorrow: fela anikulapo-kuti and human rights activism in nigeria" (pdf.) journal of pan african studies. 6 (4): 74-95. gale a356354162 **+** bordowitz hank (2004.) noise of the world:non-western musicians in ir own words. soft skull press. canada **+** chude olisaemeka (11 november 2015) "let's keep felabrating" archived 31 december 2021 at the wayback machine ayiba magazine **+** idowu mabinuori kayode (2002.) fela le combattant. le castor astral. france **+** moore carlos (1982.) fela fela! this bitch of a life. allison & busby. uk. (authorised biography.) new edition chicago review press 2009 (w/ introduction by margaret busby and foreword by gilberto gil); nigerian edition cassava republic press (w/ prologue by lindsay barrett) **+** ogunyemi christopher babatunde (2 october 2021.) "fela kuti's black consciousness: african cosmology and the re-configuration of blackness in 'colonial mentality'." african identities. 19 (4): 487-501. doi: 10.1080/14725843.2020.1803793. s2cid 225491880 **+** olorunyomi sola (2002.) afrobeat: fela and the imagined continent. africa world press. usa **+** olaniyan tejumola (2004.) arrest the music! fela and ir rebel art and politics. indiana university press. usa **+** schoonmaker trevor ed. (2003.) fela: from west africa to west broadway. palgrave macmillan. usa **+** schoonmaker trevor ed. (2003.) black president: the art & legacy of fela anikulapo kuti. new museum of contemporary art new york **+** sithole tendayi (july 2012.) "fela kuti and the oppositional lyrical power." muziki. 9 (1): 1-12. doi: 10.1080/18125980.2012.737101. s2cid 142993486 **+** stewart alexander (2013.) "make it funky: fela kuti james brown and the invention of afrobeat." american studies. 52 (4): 99-118. doi: 10.1353/ams.2013.0124. jstor 24589271. s2cid 145682238. gale a426625632 project muse 528297 proquest 1498087584 **+** veal michael e. (1997.) fela: the life of an african musical icon. temple university press. usa **+** wilmer val (september 2011) "fela kuti in london" in the wire no. 331 // republic of bob