Fela: From West Africa to West Broadway

by Trevor Schoonmaker (Contributor), Yomi Durotoye (Contributor), Vivien Goldman (Contributor)

Combine elements of Bob Marley, Malcolm X and Patrice Lumumba you get a sense of the power of the world's wildest rockstar. Fela created Afrobeat, an infectious mix of American funk and jazz with traditional Yoruba and highlife music, and used it to rail against the corrupt, hypocritical Nigerian government. Repeatedly targeted by police and military for his rebellious, counter-culture lifestyle, he created a political party and seceded from the Nigerian state, renaming his commune the independent "Kalakuta Republic." Cultural icon and beloved hero of the pan-African world, Fela loomed large: captivating enormous crowds with electric performances (in Speedos or superfly suits), cherished by musicians from Paul McCartney to Mos Def, mourned by millions after his death from AIDS in 1997. These essays explore his fiery life and ever-growing legacy.

Genres: Music, Biography

224 pages, Paperback

First published July 4, 2003

Reviews

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to the life of a marginalized popular music innovator.

[Tumelo Motaung]

Where better than the horse's mouth but from the grass it grazes? Beautiful, beautiful read.

[Wes Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe the only writable book about Fela Kuti is just a collection of someone else's shit about him. He would be a biographer's dream -- it seems like every moment of his life is something you would want to read about -- but he's a total hot potato, full of such striking contradictions that he's hard to put down on paper. In any case, this book succeeds in collecting several of these contradictions between two covers and that alone makes it worth the read. You don't get the whole picture, but you get enough to see that the man's personal charisma was undeniable and his his bravery unfrontable, maybe untoppable. Kind of a hard guy to be close to though, apparently. Violence surrounded him and he initiated some of it. His points of view vis a vis folks who were not Fela Anikulapo Kuti or heroes of same, were not compassionate. Michael Veal wrote a book on him called Why Blackman Carry Shit? but I can't find it, or couldn't when I read this book, so I can't vouch for its awesomeness. If this book is right though, and since it has no apparent score to settle or guiding argument you can bet it's not trying to fool you, then Fela Kuti was one amazing, amazingly complicated guy.

[Lashai · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't exactly read this book. I simply choose it because in my Play's class we did a unit on Fela Kuti where we did a lot of research on Fela's life in Nigeria and how he used his musical talents as a weapon to express his political opinions since he also was a political activist. After all our research, we then saw the play Fela on broadway. It was phenomenal.

[Femi Kush · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book for those interested knowing Fela more!

[Tumelo Motaung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where better than the horse's mouth but from the grass it grazes? Beautiful, beautiful read.