FELA 101: All You Need to Know About the Man Who Inspired the Broadway Show

Founder of the Kalakuta Republic—a commune, recording studio, and polygamist colony—Fela Anikulapo Kuti was a man of many words, many wives, and many controversies. His words, which either rode the jazz-funk fusion (afrobeat) that distinguished his music or fired across columns in The Daily Times and The Punch, criticized organized religion, multinationals, Western medicine, pollution, poverty, and most notably, the dictatorial and militaristic Nigerian government. His wives, the first of whom was Remilekun Taylor, at their peak, numbered twenty-seven. His controversies, from the delivery of his mother’s coffin to Army barracks in Lagos to the rotation system he employed with his wives, swirled like locust around his life and his music.

Fela was born into a middle class family His mother was a political activist. His father was a minister and school principal. Both his brothers were medical doctors. In fact, medicine was Fela’s original course of study. But while in London, Fela decided to attend the Trinity College of Music. There, he formed his first band, Koola Lobitos, married his first wife, and fathered three children. He later returned to Nigeria, and then took his band to the United States. America’s Black Power Movement, which was in full swing during that time, shaped Fela’s political views. He excised much of his original name—Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti. Ransome, which Fela denounced as a slave name, was replaced by Anikulapo, meaning “one who carries death in his pouch.” After returning to the Nigeria, he renamed his band Africa 70, and founded the Kalakuta Republic.

"Zombie," Africa 70’s hit album that criticized the harsh methods of the Nigerian military, incited an attack on the Kalakuta Republic. In 1977, a thousand soldiers descended on Kalakuta. They burned the Republic, destroying many of Fela’s instruments and recording. They beat Fela severely. Worst of all, soldiers threw Fela’s elderly mother from a window. The fall resulted in her death. Later, officials claimed an unknown soldier committed the attack. Fela’s response: the delivery of his mother’s coffin to the army barracks in Logos, and a chronicle of the events in two songs, “Coffin for the Head of State” and “Unknown Soldier.”

Fela’s band deserted him—including over half of his twenty-seven wives—just before Fela’s bid for president in Nigeria’s first election. Fela formed a new band, Egypt 80. After his unsuccessful attempts at the presidency, he held a number of successful tours with his band in the United States and Europe. Twenty years, twenty-seven wives, and over forty recordings after the formation of his first band, Fela died of Kaposi’s sarcoma that resulted from AIDS. Fela’s funeral was attended by over a million people. "FELA!" the Broadway musical, will open on November 23rd at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. Look for a review of the musical here.