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Eduvest – Journal of Universal Studies Volume 3 Number 3, March, 2023 p- ISSN 2775-3735-
e-ISSN 2775-3727 |
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MUSIC AS A TOOL OF POLITICAL ACTIVISIM IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF FELA
ANIKULAPO KUTI |
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Augustus
Olukayode Fisher, Sobulo Abdullahi Idowu Department of Political
Science, Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Nigeria |
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ABSTRACT |
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Music has been
a significant tool of political activism in the world. Music tends to pass
emotions, motivate and inspire political consciousness. This study examines
the impact of music on political activism in Nigeria using Fela Anikulapo
Kuti as a case study. The secondary method of data collection and analysis is
adopted to gather information. The study presents that, indeed, music is a
relevant tool of political activism. Music has been used to advocate
political ideology and improve consciousness. Fela Anikulapo Kuti is an
iconic political activist in Nigeria using music as a tool to lead his
political activism |
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KEYWORDS |
Music, Political Activism,
Afrobeat |
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This work is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International |
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INTRODUCTION
Music has
always been an integral part of every African society both past and present. It
filters through every facet of the African society. It has its impacts in the
cultural and socio-political stance of every African society. African music in
the real sense is a ritual that illustrates the real quintessence and humanness
in being of African origin as Cudjoe (1963) pointed out.
Music and politics sound as two distinctly related concepts, however they do
intersect often, especially in the African setting. Political activities in
Nigeria and Africa is largely influenced by music, and music is also largely
influenced by contemporary and prevailing political situations as we have seen
in the musical lyrics of African artists such as Lucky Dube, Alpha Blondy and
Fela Anikulapo Kuti over the years (Onyebadi, 2018).
Furthermore,
music played a significant role in the mobilization of Africans to agitate for
their freedom during the colonial and independent era. The history of
intersection between African music and politics dates far back beyond the
independent era as there are records of township music such as’ Marabi’ in the
1930s (Onyebadi). These songs were laced with implicit as well as explicit
political messages against the apartheid system in South Africa during those
years.
Although
the basic role of music in influencing politics is well acknowledged in
literature (Labinjo, 1982), only few
Nigerian and African researchers have tried to explore how African artists use
their music craft to influence or communicate political messages. This study
will attempt to make additions and fill existing gaps in literature concerning
the intersection between music and politics using the music of Fela Anikulapo
as a case study
RESEARCH
METHOD
The paper adopts an analytical study using secondary
sources from reputed published materials such as books, thesis, local and
international journals and articles. All the collected information is evaluated
and interpreted using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The paper
focuses on music as a tool of political activism in Nigeria using Fela
Anikulapo Kuti as case study
RESULT
AND DISCUSSION
Theoretical
Framework
This work
will adopt the Framework for Activist Musician (FAM) which was described by (Hill,
2002). According to Hill, FAM evolved from works
grounded in self-leadership and musician craft. This framework collectively
explains the phenomenon of activist musician who engage in social change making
use of their ability to evoke, enhance, and sustain social ties using their
respected status as artist. This framework consists of elements such as an
individual’s self-concept, an individual’s ability to express desirable
behaviors, exercise social influence and execute motivational strategies.
Basically,
FAM illustrates how activist musicians make use of their artistic skills and
societal status to foster significant changes in the society. In other words,
the FAM model illustrates how individual behavior and social influence can
encourage other individuals to get involved in social change; hence the FAM
model suggests that the ability of an individual to enact changes in the
society is enriched through their music making involvement and status. All
components of the FAM model work in harmony to depict the culmination of one’s
influence in leading others within social change and helps to comprehensively
understand how the music making experience of the activist musician translate
into their activist work (Hill).
Evolution of
Nigerian Music
Music in
Nigeria dates back to the pre-colonial era. As a result of the different
languages and ethnic groups in Nigeria, the music scene in the country is very
vast and diverse. In South-Western or Yoruba speaking region, music is as
ancient as the Yoruba language itself. Kings in Yorubaland popularly known as
Oba usually employs the services of musicians, drummers and historians (Waterman,
2000). While the historian recites the dynastic list
of the past Kings and making various exaltation of the current King, the singer
also sings the exaltation of the King while the drummer beat the drum to
produce a grandeur of the Oba and his ancestors (Waterman). The use of drums
and playing of music in Yorubaland has been recorded as early as in 1830 by
Richard Lander when he first visited a Yoruba palace (Adegbite, 1988).
In the
South-Eastern or Igboland, music also dates back to the pre-colonial era. In
the Igbo courts, the presence of a solo instrumentalist is of great importance.
A popular example is the ‘oja’ player who is highly valuable to the Igwe (king)
as well as other members of the community. The ‘oja’ player plays the oja tune
to announce the arrival of the Igwe. The ‘oja’ is also played at Igbo traditional
ceremonies such as funerals and bestowing of chieftaincy titles (Carter,
2021). Other ethnic groups such as the Hausa, Benin,
Efik etc all have their traditional music which also dates back to the
pre-colonial era.
However,
Nigerian music has evolved massively from the era of traditional music to what
is now regarded as popular music. Popular music in Nigeria has several genres
such as Afrobeat, Hip-hop, Juju, and Highlife among others. A few decades
before the independence in 1960, the prevailing genre of music in Nigeria was
‘Apala’ which was very popular particularly in the western part of the country
where Haruna Isola a popular Apala artist dominated the music scene. Haruna
Isola popularized the Apala music when he released his widely accepted album in
1960 titled “punctuality is the soul of business”, after which he released
“oroki social club” later in that decade and became the first Nigerian to do
international tours (Lasisi, 2012). Other artists
such as Ayinla Omowura and Olatuni Yusuf also contributed to the extensive
success of the Apala music in the 1960’s (Lasisi).
Another
genre of music that shared the music scene with Apala was the ‘Highlife’ which
was popularized by artists such as Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe, Dr. Victor
Olaiya and Bobby Benson. Both genre of music were dominant in Nigeria and
Africa since the late 1950’s till the 1970’s (Emielu, 2009).
During the 1970’s more Nigerian artists started plying their trade in the
Nigerian music industry, hence this era witnessed the introduction of various
types of music genres such as Disco, Afrobeat, Rock, Fuji, and Juju.
Although
Afrobeat originated from Ghana, it became popular in Nigeria through the works
of Fela Anikulapo Kuti after the singer returned to Nigeria in 1967 to set up
his Africa 70 music band (Grass, 1986). Also in this
era, the Disco music was made popular by the Sahara all Stars from Jos. The
Rock music grew in influence through the likes of TeeMac and the Backing Band.
During the same decade, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister pioneered the Fuji
music, Tunde Nightingale pioneered the Juju music which was later extensively
popularized through the works of King Sunny Ade, Fatai Rolling Dollars,
Ebenezer Obey Fabiyi and Sir Shina Peters amongst others (Onyeji,
2005).
Between
1980 and 1990, the Fuji music dominated the music scene in Nigeria, although it
was rivaled by the increasing popularity of the Reggae and Juju music (Onwuegbuna,
2015). Reggae music which was originally identified
among Jamaicans started in Nigeria during the mid-80’s via the works of Majek
Fashek who released Nigeria first reggae album in 1988 titled “prisoner of
conscience”. The album contains the hit single “send down the rain’ which
became a street anthem in the 1990s. Other artists who contributed to the
growth of the Reggae genre of music include Ras Kimono who released the album
“under pressure” in 1989, Alex Zitto and Evelyn Ogoni amongst others
(Onwuegburu).
The wide
acceptance of Reggae, Fuji and Juju music during the 1990s can be attributed to
the invention and popularity of radio stations which were able to air these songs
in Nigeria. The arrival of the radio further increased the popularity of music
in Nigeria and paved way for new artist to ply their trade in the music
industry (Durodola, 2013). Hence, the following decade,
2000, witnessed a massive growth in the music industry and several new school
artists started to build on the foundations laid by the earlier artists.
Ray power
FM radio station was the first private radio station in Nigeria and commenced
broadcasting in 1994. The first decade of the new millennium was marked as the
era of Hip-hop and Pop music. This decade witnessed the emergence of Nigerian
artists such as Olu Maintain, 2Face Idibia, Eedris Abdulkarim, Don Jazzy,
D’banj, and Banky West among others. This decade was a time of revolution in
the Nigerian industry as a result of international recognition gained by the
Nigerian music industry during this decade.
These new
school artists did moved Nigerian music to greater heights and set a new
standard for music in Nigeria. Afrobeat which was pioneered by Fela in the
1990s started getting back on the scene in 2010, although as reformed sound and
concept (Ajiola, 2020). The 2010 decade could be
regarded as the decade of Afrobeats which is characterized by fast drumming and
high tempo music, similar to what Fela did in the 1990s. This decade saw the
emergence of global superstars such as Wizkid, Davido and Burnaboy who have
several international recognitions and have performed on some of the biggest
music stages in the world. Till date Afrobeat remains one of the dominant music
genres in Nigeria as Nigerian music continues to dominate Africa and getting
tremendous recognition from other continents.
Life of Fela
Anikulapo Kuti
Fela
Anikulapo Kuti can be described as a Nigeria singer, songwriter and
instrumentalist who is popularly known for pioneering the Afrobeat music genre
in Nigeria. He is also well known for infusing politically inclined messages in
his song as way of fighting for human rights (Adu, 2020).
Fela
Anikulapo’s musical genre is a mixture of highlife and Afrobeat. He was born on
the 15th, October 1938 into the Ransome Kuti family. His family was well known
for political activism as his mother Funmilayo Ransome Kuti and Brother Beko
Ransome Kuti were well known for their leading the campaign for democracy (Johnson-Odium,
1996). After completing his secondary school education
in Abeokuta, Fela went to the United Kingdom (UK) to study medicine, towing the
path of his two other siblings, Beko Ransome Kuti and Olikoye Ransome Kuti, who
were nationally renowned medical doctors.
However,
Fela got to London, he decided to take up music rather than medicine and
enrolled at the Trinity College of Music, London where he started to learn his
music craft as an instrumentalist. While in London, Fela founded the
KoolaLobitos band where they played a fusion of highlife and Jazz music (Shonekan,
2009). After Nigeria’s independence in 1960, he
returned to the country as full fledged musician and reorganized the
KoolaLobitos band.
In search
of a new musical direction, Fela headed to Ghana in 1967 where he started
working on the invention of Afrobeat (Howe, 19970).
The Afrobeat is a blend of jazz, highlife, calypso, salsa, funk and traditional
Yoruba music. In 1970, KoolaLobitos band was renamed as the Africa 70 group.
The album “Zombie” became Fela and Africa 70 debut album (Howe). The lyrics of
the song heavily criticized the then Nigerian military as the term ‘Zombie’ was
used as a metaphor to describe the modus operandi of the Nigerian military.
Despite the controversial lyrics and its imminent attack on the Nigerian
government, the songs on the album gained enormous popularity among Nigerians
and soon became household anthem all across the country. This infuriated the
government which was headed by General Olusegun Obasanjo.
On the
18th of February, 1997, armed military men stormed Kalakuta Republic (Fela’s
residence) beating the musician mercilessly and inflicting him with severe body
injuries. His mother Funmilayo Ransome Kuti was also allegedly thrown outside
the window causing her fatal injuries. The Kalakuta Republic was also razed
destroying Fela’s studio and all the musical instruments therein. Fela’s
mother, Funmilayo, eventually died as a result of the injuries she sustained
during the assault (Pattison, 2016). After his
mother’s death, Fela took his mother’s coffin to the Dodan barracks which was
the residence of General Obasanjo, where he wrote the songs ‘unknown soldier”
and “coffin for the head of state” (Pattison). In 1978, the Zombie song was
once again on the news as serious riot broke out while Fela was performing in
Accra, Ghana. The riot led to the banning of Fela and his Africa 70 group from
entering Ghana (Moore, 2011).
Amidst the
controversy attached to his name, Fela started his own political party in 1979
and named it ‘Movement of the People’ (MOP) but the party did not survive for
long as it was ridiculed with several confrontations from the then General
Obasanjo government (Langley, 2010). During the 1983
civilian presidential elections, Fela nominated himself as presidential
aspirant, but once again his actions were severely countered by the government
and his candidature was eventually refused (Langley). Going back to music, Fela
once again infuriated the government when he and the Africa 70 band released
the 25minute album he titled “international thief thief” (ITT). Fela regrouped
his team after the Accra riot and renamed them as Egypt 80. The new name he
gave to the band was to help pass the message that the Egyptian civilization
and everything that came with it belongs to the African continent (Grass).
During the
reign of General Muhammadu Buhari in 1983, Fela was arrested on the grounds of
currency smuggling and jailed for twenty months after which he was granted
amnesty by the General Ibrahim Babangida regime. In 1989, Fela and the Egypt 80
group released the anti-apartheid album titles “beast of no nation” which
depicted the then US President Ronald Regan, UK Prime minister, Margaret
Thatcher, and South African President, Pieter Williem Botha on its cover
(Grass).
Fela
continued to release music until he was charged for murder on the 25th, January
1993. He died on the 3rd, August 1997 from an illness which was rumored to be
AIDS, but the artist widow insisted that her late husband did not die of AIDS (Schoonmaker,
2023). Even though he is dead, his music continues to
thrive as it laid a solid foundation for Afrobeat that has become so popular
today with top Nigerian artists such as Wizkid, Burnaboy and Fireboy promoting
the Afrobeat at the local and international level. Till date the Egypt 80 band
led by Fela’s youngest son is still very much active releasing the album “black
times” in 2018.
Fela
Anikulapo and Political Activism in Nigeria
Fela’s
ideology is a matrix of radical Black Nationalism that gave way to a much more
expensive Pan-Africanism and Afrocentrism, as well as a staunch support for the
oppressed lower class that could be described as socialist in orientation and
irrepressible libertarianism that frequently tries to be the anchor and
articulator of the other two. Fela’s support for the oppressed lower class was
unwavering. He lived among them, brought their cries to national attention,
witnessed their brutality in the hands of official lawlessness, and even shared
their poverty (Olaniyan, 2004). Olaniyan also
offers this aspect of Fela who is not born into the oppressed lower class as
the epitome of class suicide in the world of actual struggle.
Fela’s
music style is known as Afrobeat, and it is a fusion of jazz, funk, psychedelic
rock, and traditional West African chants and rhythms. Afrobeat is also
distinguished by vocals and musical structure, as well as jazzy, funky
sections. The endless groove, in which a base rhythm of drums, shekere, muted
guitar, and bass guitar is repeated throughout the song, is also used.
Afrobeat
philosophy, popularly known as “Felasophy” is defined by two basic political
ideologies, Pan-Africanism and Afrocentrism”, which Fela preferred to call
“Africanism.” His radical black nationalism reflects these ideologies.
Pan-Africanism is a philosophical creed based on the belief that peoples of
African descent share common bonds, historical experiences and goals, and that
they should therefore work together to achieve those goals. It generally refers
to the promotion of political unity among African countries. It emphasizes
continental unity and strong identification with anti-colonial struggles
(Augustus Fisher, Soboyejo Oludemi & Babatunde Adebogun, 2022). This has
included various Pan-African congresses from 1900 to the activities of figures
such as Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832-1912), Marcus Garvey (1887-1940), and W.E.D.
Dubois (1868-1963), as well as the indefatigable George Padmore and his classic
book, Pan Africanism or Communism (1956).
It should
be noted, however, that the emphasis of Pan-Africanism was and continues to be
political, specifically the struggle for independence from colonial rule,
statehood, and beyond that, the development of institutions and techniques of
effective governance aimed at advancing the interests of blacks in modernity.
Sekou
Toure, the first President of Guinea and Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of
Ghana are two legendary figures on the African continent. Radical intellectual
activist and figures like Kwame Nkrumah, Frantz Fanon, and Walter Rodney served
as Fela’s direct shepherd. Throughout all of Fela’s works, theme from Fanon’s
emphasis on the psychological subjection of Africans to European norms and
values and his astute reading of the tragedy that the newly emerging class of
post-independence African leaders would become prevalent. Rodney taught Fela
about Africa’s enormous contribution to European civilization in general and to
industrialization in particular through slavery and colonization. Being
colonized has a devastating effect on a people and culture (Augustus,
2022).
A picture
of Fela reading Rodney’s classic book ‘How Europe underdeveloped Africa, 1972”
with what appears to be unwavering concentration appeared on the front cover of
“VIP- Vagabonds in Power, 1979.” We know where the rigorous conceptual and
ideological support for such sentiments originated. Fela sang in “Parambulator”
(1983) that “Oyinbo no teach us nothing/ na we open dem eyes/ na 500years
slavery cause am” (Europeans did not teach us anything/ we civilized them with
500years of our slave labour).
Fela’s
allyship with the oppressed lower class is another aspect of Fela’s ideology.
He lived among them and proclaimed their sound to the nation. After his ten
months journey from America, he could no longer bring himself to sing about
love, even though he did not belong to them by birth from a mother who was one
of the very few women in the world to win the Lenin Peace Prize. He found his
own voice by turning to the lower class, which always put him at odds with the
Nigerian government. His unrelenting liberalism, which advocates for thought
and action, is also present. In the sense that he took this to mean that he was
free to do anything including smoking marijuana, which he assumed was not
supposed to be a crime or the fact that many young girls lived in his household
especially since he did not kidnap any of them.
This has
been cited by many analyst of Fela’s life and times as the downfall and flaws
of his ideology. One of his most well known song which claimed to understand
the struggle for equality between African men and women as being infected by
westernization, also reveals his flaws. The song, “lady” promotes an African
domesticity in which the African man rules supreme over the African woman.
However, Olaniyan
(2004) argues that Fela’s music, ideologies and way of
life were successful in introducing to young people brand-new, rebellious, and
impatient ideas that completely erased any love of the state from their hearts
and minds. With his straightforward deconstructive insights, sardonic humor,
and exhilarating sounds, he inspired young people to view the state as
fundamentally unjust, self-serving, dictatorial, even unpatriotic and
un-African, and to view many of its policies as utterly illogical.
He
specifically used the example of the military regime under President Obasanjo,
which was widely regarded as having destroyed the lives of the entire nation.
Furthermore, Olaniyan agrees that Fela is an iconic figure who began genuine
and outspoken political activism in Nigeria and paved the way for additional
activist acts by giving rise to the nation’s first socially conscious and
tenacious generation. According to Olaniyan, many of Fela’s fans who were then
students went on to become fearless journalists, educators, civil rights
attorneys, and social activists who served as the backbone of resistance to the
dreadful dictators like General Ibrahim Babangida and General Sani Abacha, as
well as Obasanjo second election as President
CONCLUSION
Overuse of repetition makes people lose control
over their thoughts. The use of rhythmic repetition is a strategy used by
musicians who want to promote a particular moral code. The powers of music
include all of these and more. According to Austin Maro Emielu (2009), the
contribution that music makes to youth empowerment is the clearest example of
political activism through music. On the grounds that “a professionalized music
industry will midwife institutionalization of specialized sectors, which will
become the engine for growth, development, and empowerment for youths with
interest in the music industry,” he argues in support of this claim.
He emphasizes the value of the Nigerian music
industry, which, if fully developed, could displace crude oil as the foundation
of Nigeria’s economy. He goes on to say that “popular music can be utilized as
a genuine instrument for ideological change and mass reorientation. Popular
music can also be used for a variety of purposes, including promoting
government initiatives and policies, advertising goods, and serving as a social
voice for the oppressed and disadvantaged masses, as demonstrated by Fela’s
Afrobeat. The massive influx of feminine
folk into popular music today represents yet another form of women empowerment,
which has a major focus of feminist activists in recent history in the
government, academia and other women’s right organization.
As political issues starts to permeate the lives
of teens and young adults, society views listening to popular music as an important
part of growing up. As a result, popular music’s customary conventions must
change to reflect this shift in culture. The question then arises, why don’t we
take advantage of this if it’s the custom for young people to carry music
players around? By singing about them, you are bringing them into the political
consciousness as a whole and inspiring participation in the political culture.
The case study used in this work, Fela Anikulapo
Kuti’s Afrobeat, demonstrates to a large extent how politically charged music
can become, because musicians can adopt Fela’s position as political preachers.
His music promoted two important political ideologies: Pan-Africanism and
Afrocentrism, which helped create the nation’s first generation of socially
engaged and unyielding youths. In addition, many of Fela’s supporters who were
then students went on to become fearless journalists, educators, civil rights
lawyers, and social activists who served as backbone of resistance to the
dreadful dictatorial regimes in Nigeria.
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