Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti (15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997 … Read Full Bio ↴Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti (15 October 1938 – 2 August 1997 ), known professionally as Fela Kuti, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, or simply Fela, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist, political maverick & leader of Fela Ransome Kuti & Africa 70.

HMV Magazine ranked him as #46 on a list of the 100 most influential musicians of the 20th century.

The musical style performed by Fela Kuti is called Afrobeat, which is essentially a fusion of jazz, funk, highlife, and traditional Yoruban chants and rhythms. It is characterized by having African-style percussion, vocals, and musical structure, along with jazzy, funky horn sections. The endless groove is also used, in which a base rhythm of drums, shekere, muted guitar, and bass guitar are repeated throughout the song. His band was notable for featuring two baritone saxophones, whereas most groups using this instrument only use one. This is a common technique in African and African-influenced musical styles, and can be seen in funk and hip-hop. Some elements often present in Fela's music are the call-and-response within the chorus and figurative but simple lyrics. Fela's songs were almost always over 10 minutes in length, some reaching the 20- or even 30-minute marks, while some unreleased tracks would last up to 45 minutes when performed live. This was one of many reasons that his music never reached a substantial degree of popularity outside of Africa. His songs were mostly sung in Nigerian pidgin, although he also performed a few songs in the Yoruba language. Fela's main instruments were the saxophone and the keyboards, but he also played the trumpet, guitar, and took the occasional drum solo. Fela refused to perform songs again after he had already recorded them, which also hindered his popularity outside Africa. Fela was known for his showmanship, and his concerts were often quite outlandish and wild. He referred to his stage act as the Underground Spiritual Game.

Fela was born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, to a middle-class family. His mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, was a feminist activist in the anti-colonial movement and his father, Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, a Protestant minister and school Principal, was the first president of the Nigerian Union of Teachers. His brothers, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti and Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti,both medical doctors, are both well known in Nigeria.

Fela was sent to London in 1958 to study medicine but decided to study music instead at the Trinity College of Music. While there, he formed the band Koola Lobitos, playing a style of music that he would later call Afrobeat. The style was a fusion of American Jazz, psychedelic rock, and Funk with West African Highlife. In 1961, Fela married his first wife, Remilekun (Remi) Taylor, with whom he would have three children (Femi, Yeni, and Sola). In 1963, Fela moved back to Nigeria, re-formed Koola Lobitos and trained as a radio producer for the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1969, Fela took the band to the United States. While there, Fela discovered the Black power movement through Sandra Smith (now Isidore)—a partisan of the Black Panther Party—which would heavily influence his music and political views and renamed the band Nigeria ’70. Soon, the Immigration and Naturalization Service was tipped off by a promoter that Fela and his band were in the US without work permits. The band then performed a quick recording session in Los Angeles that would later be released as The '69 Los Angeles Sessions.

Fela and his band, renamed Africa '70, returned to Nigeria. He then formed the Kalakuta Republic, a commune, a recording studio, and a home for many connected to the band that he later declared independent from the Nigerian state. Fela set up a nightclub in the Empire Hotel, named the Afro-Spot and then the Afrika Shrine, where he performed regularly. Fela also changed his middle name to Anikulapo (meaning "he who carries death in his pouch"), stating that his original middle name of Ransome was a slave name. The recordings continued, and the music became more politically motivated. Fela's music became very popular among the Nigerian public and Africans in general. In fact, he made the decision to sing in Pidgin English so that his music could be enjoyed by individuals all over Africa, where the local languages spoken are very diverse and numerous. As popular as Fela's music had become in Nigeria and elsewhere, it was also very unpopular with the ruling government, and raids on the Kalakuta Republic were frequent. In 1974 the police arrived with a search warrant and a cannabis joint, which they had intended to plant on Fela. He became wise to this and swallowed the joint. In response, the police took him into custody and waited to examine his feces. Fela enlisted the help of his prison mates and gave the police someone else's feces, and Fela was freed. He then recounted this tale in his release Expensive Shit (now released together with "He Miss Road" as Expensive Shit/He Miss Road).

In 1977 Fela and the Afrika ’70 released the hit album Zombie, a scathing attack on Nigerian soldiers using the zombie metaphor to describe the methods of the Nigerian military. The album was a smash hit with the people and infuriated the government, setting off a vicious attack against the Kalakuta Republic, during which one thousand soldiers attacked the commune. Fela was severely beaten, and his elderly mother was thrown from a window, causing fatal injuries. The Kalakuta Republic was burned, and Fela's studio, instruments, and master tapes were destroyed. Fela claimed that he would have been killed if it were not for the intervention of a commanding officer as he was being beaten. Fela's response to the attack was to deliver his mother's coffin to the main army barrack in Lagos and write two songs, "Coffin for Head of State" and "Unknown Soldier," referencing the official inquiry that claimed the commune had been destroyed by an unknown soldier.

Fela and his band then took residence in Crossroads Hotel as the Shrine had been destroyed along with his commune. In 1978 Fela married 27 women, many of whom were his dancers, composers, and singers to mark the anniversary of the attack on the Kalakuta Republic. Later, he was to adopt a rotation system of keeping only twelve simultaneous wives. The year was also marked by two notorious concerts, the first in Accra in which riots broke out during the song "Zombie," which led to Fela being banned from entering Ghana. The second was at the Berlin Jazz Festival after which most of Fela's musicians deserted him, due to rumors that Fela was planning to use the entirety of the proceeds to fund his presidential campaign.

Despite the massive setbacks, Fela was determined to come back. He formed his own political party, which he called 'Movement of the People'. In 1979 he put himself forward for President in Nigeria's first elections for more than a decade but his candidature was refused. At this time, Fela created a new band called Egypt 80 and continued to record albums and tour the country. He further infuriated the political establishment by dropping the names of ITT vice-president Moshood Abiola and then General Olusegun Obasanjo at the end of a hot-selling 25-minute political screed titled "I. T. T. (International Thief Thief)."

In 1984, he was again attacked by the Military government, who jailed him on a dubious charge of currency smuggling. His case was taken up by several human-rights groups, and after 20 months, he was released from prison by General Ibrahim Babangida. On his release he divorced his 12 remaining wives, saying that "marriage brings jealousy and selfishness." Once again, Fela continued to release albums with Egypt 80, made a number of successful tours of the United States and Europe and also continued to be politically active. In 1986, Fela performed in Giants Stadium in New Jersey as part of the Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope concert, sharing the bill with Bono, Carlos Santana, and the Neville Brothers. In 1989, Fela & Egypt 80 released the anti-apartheid "Beasts of No Nation" album that depicts on its cover U.S. President Ronald Reagan, UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and South African Prime Minister P.W. Botha with fangs dripping blood.

His album output slowed in the 1990s, and eventually he stopped releasing albums altogether. The battle against military corruption in Nigeria was taking its toll, especially during the rise of dictator Sani Abacha. Rumors were also spreading that he was suffering from an illness for which he was refusing treatment. On 3 August 1997, Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, already a prominent AIDS activist and former Minister of Health, stunned the nation by announcing his younger brother's death a day earlier from Kaposi's sarcoma brought on by AIDS. (Their younger brother Beko was in jail at this time at the hand of Abacha for political activity). 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.

Buy Africa
Fela Kuti Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Se tiwa nio mio fe
Se tiwa nio mio ra
Se tiwa nio mio se
Se tiwa nio mio fa mio
Se tiwa nio mio se

Tani ma ba wa je
Tani ma ba wa se

Kila se ma lowo l′Africa
Kila se ma lowo l'Africa
Afi ti aba ra ti wa o e
Afi ti aba se ti wa o
Afi ti aba ra ti wa o e
Afi ti aba se ti wa o

Se tiwa nio mio fe
Se tiwa nio mio ra
Se tiwa nio mio se
Tani ma ba wa je
Tani ma ba wa je
E eh eh eh eh

Se tiwa nio mio fe
Se tiwa nio mio ra

Na so
Na so African man dey talk
Him go see e own thing wey e dey make for him own country
E thing thing wey e dey do for him own country
Him go say him no want am, e no good
The one wey come from the other country
Outside Africa na e good for he own

He be fool! Big fool!
Because unless we buy our own thing
Unless we do our own thing
We no go make money
To be like the other countries outside Africa
That is why we have to do our own thing
Patronise our own thing, so we can be rich like other countries outside Africa
Now because African man say him no go do e own thing
Him no go buy e own thing
I ask him a question in my own language
I ask him a question in my mother tongue, I go like this
I say
Na na na na eh
Tani ma ba wa je
Tani ma ba wa je
Kila se ma lowo l′Africa
Kila se ma lowo l'Africa

Afi ta ba ra tiwa o
Afi ta ba se tiwa o
Ko'gbon o
Baba mi ko′gbon o
Ko′gbon o
Iya mi ko'gbon o
Ko′gbon o
Egbon mi ko'gbon o
Ko′gbon o

Ore mi ko'gbon o
Buy Africa

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Fela Kuti's song "Buy Africa" express a call to action for African people to support their own economy and businesses. The repetition of "Se tiwa nio mio" emphasizes the urgency of the message and encourages listeners to take action. The phrase "Tani ma ba wa je/Tani ma ba wa se" asks the question of who will eat and who will do it, indicating that it's up to Africans to support their own economy and businesses. The line "Kila se ma lowo l'Africa" emphasizes the importance of African wealth, and the repetition of "Afi ti aba ra ti wa o e/Afi ti aba se ti wa o" emphasizes the consequences of not supporting African businesses: not having money.

The song also criticizes those who choose to support foreign countries over their own, suggesting that such individuals are foolish. Fela Kuti emphasizes the importance of buying locally made products and investing in the African economy in order for it to thrive. The lyrics deliver a powerful message of empowerment to listeners and encourage them to take pride in African businesses and products.

Overall, "Buy Africa" is a powerful call to action for Africans to take control of their own economic future and support their own businesses. The lyrics encourage listeners to be proud of their heritage and invest in their own communities, rather than relying on foreign countries for economic stability.

Line by Line Meaning

Se tiwa nio mio fe
If we don't love ourselves

Se tiwa nio mio ra
If we don't serve ourselves

Se tiwa nio mio se
If we don't work for ourselves

Se tiwa nio mio fa mio
If we don't look after ourselves

Se tiwa nio mio se
If we don't work for ourselves

Tani ma ba wa je
Who will we buy from?

Tani ma ba wa se
Who will we sell to?

Kila se ma lowo l′Africa
Everyone should have money in Africa

Kila se ma lowo l'Africa
Everyone should have money in Africa

Afi ti aba ra ti wa o e
If we buy from ourselves

Afi ti aba se ti wa o
If we do for ourselves

Afi ti aba ra ti wa o e
If we buy from ourselves

Afi ti aba se ti wa o
If we do for ourselves

Se tiwa nio mio fe
If we don't love ourselves

Se tiwa nio mio ra
If we don't serve ourselves

Se tiwa nio mio se
If we don't work for ourselves

Tani ma ba wa je
Who will we buy from?

E eh eh eh eh

Se tiwa nio mio fe
If we don't love ourselves

Se tiwa nio mio ra
If we don't serve ourselves

Na so
That's how it is

Na so African man dey talk
That's how African men talk

Him go see e own thing wey e dey make for him own country
He will see what he is producing in his own country

E thing thing wey e dey do for him own country
What he is doing in his own country

Him go say him no want am, e no good
He will say he doesn't want it, it's not good enough

The one wey come from the other country
The ones that come from other countries

Outside Africa na e good for he own
Outside Africa is good for him

He be fool! Big fool!
He is a fool! A big fool!

Because unless we buy our own thing
Because if we don't buy our own things

Unless we do our own thing
Unless we produce our own things

We no go make money
We will not make money

To be like the other countries outside Africa
To be like other countries outside Africa

That is why we have to do our own thing
That is why we have to produce our own things

Patronise our own thing, so we can be rich like other countries outside Africa
Support our own production, so we can be as wealthy as other countries outside Africa

Now because African man say him no go do e own thing
Now because African men refuse to produce their own things

Him no go buy e own thing
They don't buy their own things

I ask him a question in my own language
I ask him a question in my mother tongue

I ask him a question in my mother tongue, I go like this
I ask him a question in my mother tongue, and it goes like this

Na na na na eh

Tani ma ba wa je
Who will we buy from?

Kila se ma lowo l′Africa
Everyone should have money in Africa

Kila se ma lowo l'Africa
Everyone should have money in Africa

Afi ta ba ra tiwa o
If we buy from ourselves

Afi ta ba se tiwa o
If we do for ourselves

Ko'gbon o
It's not wise

Baba mi ko′gbon o
My father, it's not wise