Continuing the Legend of Fela and Seun Kuti

Below is a re-print of intern Alexis Brown's article about the fascinating lives of Fela and Seun Kuti. Seun will be carrying on his father's legacy this Thursday night in the theater at 8pm. Join us to continue the amazing legend of Fela and Seun.


The Legendary Kutis: Fela and Seun

Few have lived lives as illustrious as Fela Kuti. As the Herald Sun put it, “Imagine Che Guevara and Bob Marley rolled into one person and you get a sense of Nigerian musician and activist Fela Kuti.”  To say the least, his life was marked by enormous musical success and political turmoil, the likes of which I frankly think might give both Che and Bob a run for their money.

He began his life in a Nigerian middle class family, but after eschewing medical school to study music at Trinity College of Music, he embarked on what would begin an entirely new genre of music. In 1967, he moved to Ghana, where he formed the band the Nigeria ’70 and first began calling his music “Afrobeat.” In Ghana, Fela discovered the Black Panther movement. 

The band played in LA for a bit (before being kicked out for not having work visas), then moved back to Nigeria, and the themes of their songs shifted from love to politics—and here’s where Fela’s trouble with the Nigerian government started. He formed a commune, the Kalakuta Republic, and from there began recording politically charged anthems. These included “Zombie,” which greatly criticized the Nigerian military. He also engaged in polygamy, and went as far as to declare his commune separate from the rest of Nigeria. His album, also entitled Zombie, became a smash hit, which infuriated the government and set off a vicious attack against the Kalakuta commune. One thousand soldiers attacked the commune, and Fela was beaten to within an inch of his life—while his elderly mother was fatally thrown from a window.

Has your jaw dropped yet? Mine certainly did. And somehow, it gets crazier. Fela sent his mother’s coffin to the General’s home residence, and violent riots broke out when Fela next performed “Zombie.”  After the concert  riots, Fela was banned from performing in Ghana, and most his band soon abandoned him after rumors that he was using the proceeds to finance a bid to be president. The rumors may have been true, because Fela announced his desire for candidacy in 1979 (after starting his own political party), though his candidacy was eventually refused.

In the 80s, Fela renamed his band Egypt 80, and they continued to release music and made a successful tour in the US. In 1984, Muhammadu Buhari's government, of which Kuti was a vocal opponent, jailed him on a charge of currency smuggling, a charge that Amnesty International would soon claim was politically motivated. His cause was taken up by several human rights groups, and after 20 months, he was finally released. After this, and continuing into the 1990s, Fela’s output of music sadly began to slow, though his mark on the Nigerian and world music scene was now indelible. In 1997, he died of an AIDS-related disease.

This is where Fela Kuti’s story ends, and the story of his son Seun begins. Seun, the youngest son of the legendary musician, also demonstrated an enormous talent for music, and when he was 14, he chose to pursue this path over soccer, in which he was equally talented. Members of the original Egypt 80, many of whom were harassed and arrested along with him, now play with Seun. As politically active as his father (if less polygamous), Seun has been hailed by Sandra Izadore in The Atlantic as “Nigeria’s only hope.”

Seun is now travelling all over the globe, continuing his father’s legacy of political activism and superb Afrobeat music with many musicians and dancers on stage. And finally, audiences all over the world are hearing some of their favorite songs performed—after Fela recorded a song, he refused to play it again, and so for many fans, this will be their first live experience of their favorites. On April 12 at 8 pm, the legend continues at the Wisconsin Union Theater, and the performance promises to be an unforgettable one.