Topics in Recorded Music: Fela Kuti

Catalog description

Enhanced by multiple samplings by hip-hop artists, a successful international musical and an upcoming Hollywood feature film, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti's popularity has exploded since his passing in 1997. Now Fela's fame and authority has ascended to its rightful place in the pantheon of inspirational activist artists like Bob Marley and John Lennon; the first and - so far - only artist from Africa to attain that level of recognition. In this course we examine a number of topics related to Fela and his music and politics: the history of colonial and post-colonial Nigeria; Nigerian traditional and indigenous popular music and their relationship to global pop; Yoruba arts, culture and spiritual beliefs; the intertwining connections between African and African-American music that underpin Fela's sound, Afrobeat; Fela's family history; his unique trajectory as an activist artist who evolved his own sound, Afrobeat; the formative phases of his musical and political development in Nigeria, London and Los Angeles; his role as bandleader and the opening of his club, the Shrine and his state-within--a-state, the Kalakuta Republic; the truth behind the sensational aspects of his lifestyle; Fela's provocative defiance of a series of military dictatorships and frequent incarcerations; Fela's music and lyrics and their co-relation to his times; his relationship to the African and global music business; Fela's relationship with women. Afrobeat Aesthetics; Fela's visual representation of his message; his and the Queens' fashion and dance style.