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What Fela Would Have Sung In Times Like This:
13th October
By Charles Okogene,Senior Correspondent, Lagos
On Sunday, October 15, Afrobeat music creator and one of the best musicians to come out of the Black race, Olufela Anikulapo-Kuti, would have clocked 66 years if he had been alive.
He would have invited friends, fans, followers and family members to join him in celebrating the milestone.
His aficionados, who had paid regular pilgrimage to his Gbemisola residence every October 15 to Felabrate with him, would have gone to the "party" with one thing in mind ñ to hear the chief priest do his usual yabis or perform new song he would have composed about the political situation in Nigeria.
With only his pant, which barely covered his buttocks well, and surrounded by his women, some of who have now joined him in the world beyond, Fela would have treated his fans to knocks on the political class, who have allegedly stolen over $100 billion from Nigeriaís treasury since 1999. He would have, in his usual manner, poked thought-provoking fun on the on-going feud between President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
He would have equally assailed his listeners for ignoring all his warning in
Teacher No Teach Me Nonsense and Army Arrangement, for voting Obasanjo and
PDP in 1999.
He would have rushed to the studio to release another monumental hit in the
class of Beast Of No Nation (BON) to highlight the ridicule and shame the
supposedly democratically elected governments at all levels in Nigeria have
plunged the nation into. Abami Eda would have released songs nobody, not
even those who hated him so much and tried to use brute force to silence
him, would have ignored. He would probably have entitled the new song E
Never Finish? He would have raved and raked at the Afrika Shrine on Friday
nights.
He would have equally surprised his fans, the nation, the music community
and the world by opting for I Dey Look, I Dey Laugh posture.
A position he took in the days of self-styled military president, General
Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. Fela would have responded to his fans, who would
have besieged his Gbemisola, Ikeja, Lagos, residence, asking: "Fela wetin
you Go sing aboutÖ", to go home and listen to the lyrics of all his past
hits.
He would probably have told them there was nothing to sing about in the
altercation between Obasanjo and Atiku, the outright looting of the
nationís treasury by politicians, so much that in 2006 Nigerians are still
battling with lack of potable water, six years after the UN had declared
2000, which he sang about in 1980s, the year of water for all; the epileptic
power supply and the fact that pen robbery has increased more than armed
robbery. He would have referred them to Beast of No Nation, to justify his
no new song for you.
Fela would have told his fans in unmistakable terms that democracy was
nothing but "demonstration of craze" with its immunity clause that provides
shield for crooked politicians in Aso Rock, Government Houses and local
government headquarters, to steal the nation blind and pauperise the people;
that armed robbers in politiciansí garb are now VIP in power, carting away
the contents of our treasury to Europe and America. He would have told them
there was nothing happening in Nigeria now that he had not sang about in his
evergreen hits like Zombie, ITT, Army Arrangement, Teacher No Teach Me
Nonsense, Beast of No Nation, Overtake Don Overtake Overtake (ODOO).
He would have reminded them of the N2.8 billion missing oil money song in
which he challenged Obasanjo to "carry me go any court and I go open book
for am."
He would have said at his regular yabis night on Fridays that all those who
pauperised Nigeria by looting our collective treasury "go hear "Pansa
Pansa", the title of his last recorded effort before he joined his ancestors
on Saturday, August 2, 1997 at exactly 5 p.m. in a private hospital at
Ligali Ayorinde Street, Victoria Island.
The EFCCís so-called ground-breaking success for incarcerating Tafa
Balogun, a serving inspector-general of police, for corruption would not
have impressed him. He would have taken a drag from his jumbo-sized Indian
hemp wrap before saying, "Didnít I sing that police roadblock na bank, DPO
na manager, IG na managing director?" And if he had taken the path of
"silence is the best answer for fools," it would not have surprised real
"felasophers" because years before his demise he had vowed not to release
any new album based on directives from his ancestors.
But in spite of the fact that heart failure, which his elder brother, the
late Professor Olikoye Ransomed-Kuti said was complicated by HIV/AIDS when
he publicly announced the death of Fela on Sunday, August 3, his fans are in
for a swell time beginning from today, as the New Afrika Shrine throws its
gates open for the celebration of Felaís posthumous 66th birthday.
The event entitled "Felabration" started last month with a talent hunt,
Africa Unite Party and is expected to end on Sunday with an all-night
musical performance that would feature South Africaís reggae star, Lucky
Dube, Femi Kuti, Felaís son,s who remains the most popular Nigerian
musician of his generation on the international music scene.
Now in its second year, "Felabration" will also feature younger generation
Nigerian musicians and it is sponsored by a popular beer brand. And like
Femi told Daily Independent, Felaís fans that will come to the shows are in
for a swell time.
"Felabration", he said, is a celebration of the life and times of Fela
Anikulapo-Kuti. Femi, who spoke with Daily Independent last Sunday while
getting ready to go on stage for his usual Sunday, Sunday Jump, said he
decided to place much emphasis on the day the Afrobeat creator was born as
against the day he died, "because nobody was happy that Fela died. His death
was more of a sober reflection. Nobody was happy Fela died and death is not
something one celebrates."
He agreed that spiritually Fela had gone to greater heights, but quickly
added that people celebrate birth more than death, hence the emphasis on the
day Fela came to the world than when he bowed out.
"Although you can look at it spiritually and say he has gone to greater
heights, then he had left his loved ones. If you study books, people
celebrate birth more than death; the death is more of a sober reflection on
the life he lived, but the birth symbolises the day a great man was born and
he lived for 58 years and brought joy to a lot of people through his music,"
Femi said. "All his fans and lovers of Afrobeat music will have a swell day
on Sunday. A lot of musicians have agreed to play and I canít wait for the
day."
According to him, the aim is to make "Felabration" an international music
festival that will feature musicians from all over the world.
"They (foreign musicians) are ready to come, all the musicians I have met
and told about the concert have expressed willingness to come. I hope next
yearís would be bigger than what we have planned this year," Femi said.
"Felabration" is a collaboration between Tunde ëLafaceí Oshinibosin and
the management of Afrika Shrine. The week-long celebration, which kicked off
on Tuesday, has seen everything from music, exhibition and discussion on
Felaís legacy. All activities take place in and around the Shrine.
By the time it comes to an end on Sunday evening, Afrobeat fans in Lagos and
indeed the whole of Nigeria, would have felt the spirit of Fela once more. |
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