Throwback Thursday: Fela, The Abami Eda

Throwback Thursday: Fela, The Abami Eda 

Born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti on the 15th of October 1938. His mother Funmilayo Ransome-kuti was a feminist activist in the anti-colonial movement and his father, Reverend Israel Oladotun Ransome-Kuti an Anglican minister and school principal and the first president of the Nigerian Union of Teacher. 

In 1958, Fela was sent to London to study medicine, but he ended up studying music at The Trinity College Of Music and then formed the koola Lobitos band playing a fusion of jazz and high life.
In 1963, Fela moved back Nigeria, re-formed the Koola Lobitos and also trained as a radio producer for the Nigerian Broadcasting Cooperation. 
Fela then journeyed to Ghana in 1967 where he first called his music “Afrobeat” and in 1969, together with his band, Fela went to Los Angelis where he came in contact with the Black Power movement which played a key role in his musical and political activities, he even changed the band name to “Nigeria ‘70”. 10 months later, after it was discovered that he and his band where in the city without work permit, they returned to Nigeria. After returning to Nigeria, the group was renamed again this time, “Afrika ’70” he then formed the Kalakuta Republic and changed his middle name from Ransome to Anikulapo meaning "He who carries death in his 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". 

Fela became even more popular because of his style, he sang in pidgin English so every Nigerian citizen could understand and though he was loved by many, he was also hated by many. The Nigerian government at that time thought he was a radical singer and so they came after him. Fela’s music mocked the government of that time, they in turn retaliated by attacking the Kalakuta Republic. 

At the release of Zombie in 1977, Fela was attacked and severely beaten, the whole Kalakuta commune was destroyed while his aged mother was thrown out a window. Fela responded to the attack by delivering his mother’s coffin to the Dodan barrack in Lagos, resident of the head of states Olusegun Obasanjo and singing two songs “coffin for the head of states” and “unknown soldier” after which he moved his band to the Croseroad Hotel where he married 27 women some of whom where dancers, composers and singers.

In 1979, Fela presented himself as presidential candidate but was denied the privilege of contesting, he lurched at the government even further by dropping the name of the then vise president, Moshood Abiola and General Olusegun Obasanjo as thieves in a 25 minutes political screed, which he called "I.T.T (International Thief Thief)."
Fela was arrested in 1984 by the Muhammad Buhari government on a charge of currency smuggling and 20 months later, he was released by Ibrahim Babangida and Fela continued to make music, he also made a number of successful tours to the United States and Europe and also continued to be politically active.

Fela's album output slowed in the 1990s, and eventually he stopped releasing albums altogether. In 1993, he and four members of the Afrika '70 organization were arrested for murder. The battle against military corruption in Nigeria was taking its toll, especially during the rise of dictator Sani Abacha. Rumours were also spreading that he was suffering from an illness for which he was refusing treatment.
On the 3rd of August 1977, Fela was pronounced dead by his older brother Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, a prominent AIDS activist and former Minister of Health who announced that he had suffered from an illness known as Kaposi's sarcoma as a result of AIDS.

More than a million people attended Fela's funeral at the site of the old Shrine compound. A new Africa Shrine has opened since Fela's death in a different section of Lagos under the supervision of his son Femi Kuti.